Femme Fatale
by cleotheo
Summary: Draco Malfoy's new position as an Auror for the British Ministry throws him head first into a hunt for a serial killer. Working with Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, he sets out to catch the killer as well as entering into a romantic relationship with their other colleague, Hermione Granger. Murder mystery with a side helping of Dramione romance.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N – Welcome to my new story. Femme Fatale has 25 chapters plus an epilogue. Updates will be on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Harry and Ron are main characters in this story alongside Hermione and Draco. The main plot of the story is the investigation into the murders, the romance between Hermione and Draco is a sub plot. I hope people enjoy the mystery.**

* * *

As the moonlight flooded into the hotel room via the large window, the naked couple on the large king sized bed were totally oblivious to the stunning city views as they were lost in each other. As her orgasm began to build, the witch dug her long red nails into her lover's back. Raking her nails down the wizard's back, the witch began to climax as she felt how deep her nails were penetrating. The wizard let out a moan that was part pain and part pleasure as he also began to climax.

As the two lover's climaxes began to fade, the wizard suddenly let out a strangled cry as he began to gasp for air. Moving quickly so she wouldn't end up trapped, the witch pushed her lover off her and sat up. Beside her, the wizard continued to struggle for breath. With one shuddering final breath, the wizard breathed his last, causing the witch to break out into a small smile.

Hopping off the bed, the witch slowly began to get dressed. Once she was fully dressed she turned and took one final look at her deceased lover. Smirking at the sight of the wizard, lying naked on the bed, she double checked she hadn't left any evidence of her presence, before she used magic to wipe her prints off anything she might have touched. Using magic, she opened the hotel room door and slipped outside. Heading down the back stairs, she then slipped out into the night unnoticed and walked a few streets before she apparated home.

Once at home, the witch carefully sat down at her dressing table and removed her false nails. Throwing all evidence of what she'd just removed from her hands down the toilet, the witch flushed it before heading back to her dressing table. Picking a quill up, she scanned through one of the two lists she had pinned to her mirror. Finding the name of the wizard she'd seen die, she scratched a line through his name.

"One down," The witch muttered to herself as she let out an evil cackle.

* * *

Hermione Granger let out a groan as her alarm clock rang to let her know it was time to get up and go to work. Hermione worked as a forensic pathologist at the Ministry of Magic. These days the Ministry's law department was much improved, and it blended magic with muggle technology and techniques. Hermione worked in the forensic lab attached to the law department, and as well as being the Ministry's pathologist she was the lead of the forensic team. Hermione and her team worked closely with the Aurors and the rest of the Law Department.

Rolling out of bed, Hermione headed to the bathroom to begin getting ready for another week at work. As she brushed her hair back out of her face, Hermione suddenly spotted a dark bruise on her collar bone. Leaning closer to the mirror, Hermione cursed quietly as she recognised the mark as a love bite. Despite the fact she would have to take the time to hide the mark before she left her flat, Hermione couldn't help but smile as she remembered how she'd gotten the mark.

Hermione had spent her Saturday evening and most of Sunday in bed with Draco Malfoy. The pair had been out with their respective friends over the weekend and they'd ran into each other in a bar. The pair had shared a few drinks and they were enjoying each other's company so much neither of them noticed when their friends left without them. When they did realise they'd been left alone, the pair continued to share a few drinks and they'd ended up back at Hermione's flat.

The sex had been the best of Hermione's life, and she'd enjoyed every second of being with the gorgeous blond wizard. In fact the sex had been so good, that they'd also spent most of Sunday morning in bed. The only reason they hadn't spent the entire day together was because they'd both had plans for later in the day. Hermione had been due at The Burrow for afternoon tea, while Draco was heading to the manor to have dinner with his parents before he returned home.

As much as Hermione had enjoyed the weekend, she knew it was a one off. Draco lived in France, where he worked as an Auror and Hermione had no intention of leaving her life behind and moving countries. Not that Hermione would move countries based on one weekend together. She also doubted Draco would give up his life in France because of one weekend of mind-blowing sex.

Brushing thoughts of her weekend out of her head, Hermione continued to get ready for work. When she was showered and dressed, Hermione neatly tied her curls up, before she set about doing her make-up. Hermione never wore much make-up, but she made a lot more of an effort with her appearance than what she'd done when she was a teenager. These days her clothes fitted her perfectly and highlighted her good figure, her hair was always much more manageable and she usually wore a light dusting of make-up. As well as her normal make-up, Hermione hid the love bite on her collarbone. To make sure the mark then wouldn't be seen, she cast a glamour charm over it. Now no-one would know she was walking around with a love bite like a teenager.

Leaving her bedroom, Hermione gathered everything she would need for the day before she grabbed her breakfast. As she ate, Hermione read the morning's paper that had been delivered earlier that morning. Hermione was halfway through her breakfast when her pager beeped from inside her bag. The pager was a muggle device modified with magic, and everyone in the law department was equipped with one. Communication between various members of the law department was much easier with a pager rather than the old fashioned owl method.

Digging the pager from her bag, Hermione found the name of a hotel in wizarding London. A quick look at the Auror identification number showed the message had come from her best friend, Harry Potter. Harry was an Auror alongside their other best friend, Ron Weasley, although the two men had taken differing routes in their career. Harry was a field Auror, meaning he spent his time investigating crimes. Ron meanwhile was an analyst, and he spent his time in the office supporting the field Aurors. Both men were considered to be the best at what they did, and Hermione was proud of both her friends.

Since Harry's message hadn't said exactly what they were dealing with, Hermione made sure she had everything she would need before she grabbed her jacket and slipped her shoes on. Hermione was guessing they were dealing with a dead body as she wasn't always the one to go to other crime scenes to gather forensics, however she was the only pathologist the Ministry had so she always attended the scenes where a body had been found. Leaving the flat, Hermione erected her security wards before double checking the name of the hotel she was needed at. Satisfied she knew where she was going, Hermione apparated to the crime scene.

When Hermione entered the hotel she found a couple of M.L.E officers in the reception area, keeping things under control. Flashing her identity badge, Hermione was directed to the fifth floor. When Hermione stepped out of the lift on the fifth floor she found Harry standing outside one of the hotel rooms.

"Hey." Harry smiled grimly at Hermione as his friend approached him.

"What do we have?" Hermione asked.

"One dead male," Harry answered. "There's no obvious sign of what happened, and the preliminary checks show no indication of the killing curse."

"I'm assuming you haven't moved the body," Hermione said.

"Of course we haven't," Harry replied, rolling his eyes at his best friend. Even though they'd been working together for so many years, Hermione always checked the crime scene hadn't been disturbed.

Turning around, Harry led the way into the room. Hermione followed Harry and her eyes widened when she saw the wizard on the bed. The wizard was lying on his back completely naked, and was still sporting a semi-erection. The bed sheets were messed up as though a couple had been using the bed for a bit of fun. Placing her bag down on the bedside table, Hermione pulled out a pair of medical gloves and put them on as she continued to look over the body.

"Why does he look familiar?" Hermione muttered. She couldn't place the dead wizard on the bed, but there was definitely something about him that struck her as familiar.

"It's Ernie Macmillan," Harry answered.

With Harry's identification, Hermione looked closer at the man on the bed and she could see it was indeed their former classmate. Hermione hadn't seen Ernie since the end of the war ten years ago, but now she knew who he was she could see the similarities to the teenager she'd known. She suspected that when he was alive, Ernie would have been a fairly attractive man, which may have explained why he was discovered in a hotel room.

"Did your new partner not start today?" Hermione asked Harry, as she leant over Ernie's body and began to check him over for obvious signs of trauma. Harry's former partner had just retired, and his replacement was due to be starting that morning.

"He's in the bathroom checking it over," Harry replied. "So what do you think?" He asked, gesturing to Ernie.

"There's no sign of anything untoward on his front," Hermione replied. "Help me turn him over so I can check his back."

Harry moved to the other side of Ernie and together the pair gently rolled the dead wizard onto his front. Harry let out a sharp gasp as deep scratch marks were revealed on the victim's back. Blood was dried around some of the scratch marks, and there was also dried blood on the sheets where he'd been lying.

"What the hell happened here?" Harry asked.

"It looks like someone had some good sex last night," A voice from the bathroom door answered.

Hermione froze at the sound of the voice and when she turned round she found a smirking Draco Malfoy leaning against the door leading to the bathroom. Hermione couldn't help but think how gorgeous Draco was with his tousled platinum blond hair, and his suit that fitted him perfectly and did nothing to hide the killer body that lay underneath. Draco's smirk grew wider when he spotted Hermione looking him over, and pushing himself away from the doorframe he wandered over to join the pair beside the bed.

"Bathroom's clear," He said to Harry. "There's no prints at all, and no indication of who Macmillan was with."

Before Harry had a chance to respond, a M.L.E officer poked his head round the door and asked if Harry could come and speak to the manager of the hotel who was getting rather antsy at the wait for an explanation. As soon as Harry had exited the room, Hermione whirled on Draco.

"What are you doing here?" She hissed.

"I'm Potter's new partner," Draco answered. "Today's my first day on the job."

"Why didn't you say anything over the weekend?" Hermione demanded.

"I thought you knew," Draco replied with a shrug.

"I didn't, otherwise it wouldn't have happened," Hermione shot back. "I don't sleep with people I work with. It's a rule I have."

"Luckily I have no such rule," Draco said with a wicked smirk. "I don't care whether we work together or not, our weekend was hot and I intend to have a repeat performance."

"Not a chance." Hermione stubbornly shook her head as she turned her attention back to Ernie. "Now you're working at the British Ministry, there won't be a repeat of the weekend."

"We'll see," Draco responded, just as Harry re-entered the room and stopped their conversation.

"Have you found anything?" Harry asked Hermione.

"Nothing to indicate what caused his death," Hermione answered.

"What about the scratches?" Harry questioned. "They look pretty deep."

"Some witches can really dig their nails in," Draco said with a chuckle. "I should know, I've got scratch marks like that on my back from over the weekend. The witch I was with was wild, she left all sorts of marks on my body."

Harry chuckled at Draco, while Hermione tried to ignore him as she concentrated on Ernie's body. However, ignoring Draco wasn't easy when he kept making comments to Harry about the wild weekend of sex he'd just experienced. Trying her best to shut out the two Aurors in the room, Hermione completed her initial examination of the body before taking out her wand and casting a few magical tests.

"You're right, he didn't die from the killing curse," Hermione said as she put her wand away. "I'll have to do a full autopsy when I get him back to the Ministry."

"What else can you tell us?" Harry asked. He knew Hermione would be able to tell them something, even before she could give them a cause of death.

"He died within five minutes of having sex," Hermione said. "Or at least, he died within five minutes of ejaculating. Hence, his semi-erection."

"You mean the poor bloke hadn't even recovered from his orgasm before he croaked?" Draco remarked.

"Could the sex itself have killed him?" Harry asked. "Could he have over exerted himself?"

"I'll have to check his medical history, but unless he had an underlying condition, I wouldn't have thought so," Hermione answered. "He's not even thirty, and he looks pretty fit. Even the most vigorous sex shouldn't have killed him. But I'm not going to know anything until I get him back to the Ministry."

Pulling her pager from her bag, Hermione paged a few members of her forensic team. A couple of the team would transport Ernie back to the Ministry, while a couple more would collect all the relevant samples from the hotel room.

"How soon will you be finished the autopsy?" Harry asked his friend.

"I should have some answers by this afternoon," Hermione said.

"How about we have a meeting at three," Harry suggested. "By then Draco and I will have started our investigation, and I've already paged Ron and informed him of what's going on. By the time we get back to the Ministry he'll have something for us."

"See you at three," Hermione said, pulling off her gloves and throwing them into her bag.

Leaving the hotel room, she waited outside until a couple of her team had arrived. Issuing instructions she then left the hotel and headed to the Ministry, all the time trying not to think about the fact Draco was now going to be working alongside her at the Ministry. Hermione didn't sleep with colleagues as she didn't want things to get messy at work, but something told her that resisting Draco was going to be something she found hard to do.


	2. Chapter 2

Once Hermione's team had taken the body and gathered all the forensic evidence from the hotel room, Harry and Draco headed downstairs to talk to the staff and guests. The M.L.E officers had gathered everyone in the dining room and they'd been speaking to the guests and staff individually. Harry and Draco checked with the lead officer that the interviews were running okay, before they headed into the office where the manager of the hotel was waiting for them. After Harry had calmed him down and reassured him that they'd speak to him as soon as possible, the manager had settled in his office to wait for the two Aurors.

"Sorry for the delay, Mr Rashid," Harry said as he and Draco took a seat opposite the obviously stressed manager.

"This is just awful," Mr Rashid muttered, shaking his head in disbelief. "A murder in my hotel. I'll be ruined."

"We don't know if it's a murder yet," Draco pointed out. "It could be natural causes."

"Do you think so?" Mr Rashid asked in relief.

"It's possible," Harry answered.

Of course they didn't for one minute think Ernie's death was natural causes considering they'd found no fingerprints at all in the room, including Ernie's. The only prints they had were from the doorknob and those had been from the maid who'd discovered the body.

"Did you find the register for last night?" Harry asked the manager. During his previous visit to the manager he'd asked about finding out how long Ernie had been staying at the hotel.

"I did," Mr Rashid answered. Sliding a book across the desk to the two Aurors, he pointed to where Ernie had signed in the previous evening.

"Mr Smith," Draco muttered, reading the name and rolling his eyes. "How original. It says here, he checked in at half ten and paid cash. Do you know if he was alone?"

"I don't, I'm afraid," Mr Rashid replied. "I didn't arrive until the body had been discovered and the girl on reception last night went off shift at midnight."

"We'll need her name and address," Draco said.

Draco wrote down the witch's name and address when the manager found it in the employee records. After making sure the manager knew not to mention anything about the body to the press, Harry and Draco left the office. Checking with the M.L.E officer's, they found that none of the guests or staff had seen Ernie the previous evening. Most of the staff had come on duty overnight, therefore they weren't around when Ernie checked in and none of the guests could remember seeing anyone matching Ernie's description around the hotel.

"What do you think?" Draco asked Harry as they gathered all the statements the M.L.E officers had gathered. "Who was with Macmillan, and why did they leave and not report what had happened? Were they scared of being discovered with him, or did they kill him?"

"I have no idea," Harry admitted. "I think we need to know more about Ernie's life. I haven't seen him since the end of the war, so I have no idea what his life is like now."

"Hopefully Weasley will have plenty for us," Draco said as the pair got ready to head back to the Ministry.

Draco had no doubt that Ron would have done all he could in the few hours they'd been at the hotel as he knew the redhead was a good Auror. Draco, Harry and Ron had actually done their Auror training together after the war, and despite things been awkward between them initially they'd all learnt to get along and work together. At first Harry and Ron had been unsure about Draco been allowed onto the training programme given his past, but it had been pointed out to them that Draco had been found innocent after the war as it was decided that anything he'd done was done under duress and threats to his life. Luckily, Draco soon proved to the pair that he wanted to make amends and he wanted to become an Auror to help catch the Death Eaters that had willing supported Voldemort.

By the end of their training, the three wizards had learnt to get along pretty well and they'd all been confident they could work together in harmony. In actual fact they only worked together for a couple of months before Draco transferred to the French Ministry. After the war the Death Eaters that hadn't immediately been caught had scattered, and a fair few had landed across the channel. When trouble started brewing in France, the French Ministry requested extra assistance from the British Ministry, who had the largest number of Aurors on their books. As someone who spoke fluent French and was comfortable in the country, Draco volunteered to be one of those transferred. While initially it was only meant to be a temporary posting Draco had been in France for years, before he was offered the job as Harry's new partner.

When they arrived back at the Ministry, Harry and Draco made their way to the Law Department. The new look Law Department had evolved steadily in the ten years since the end of the war, and it now occupied the entire second floor of the Ministry. The Auror Department was located through several sets of specially guarded doors and only selected Ministry workers had access to the top end of the Law Department. Part of the floor below housed the pathology and forensic labs, which again could only be accessed by certain personnel.

When Harry and Draco entered the Auror Department, they quickly found Ron in one of the conference rooms. For the duration of the case they would work in the conference room, and only people who were involved in the case would be allowed to enter the room. At the minute those involved in the case were Harry and Draco as the lead Aurors, Ron as their analyst and Hermione as the pathologist.

"Hey Ron," Harry greeted his friend as he placed the stack of witness statements down on the large table that dominated the room.

"Hey." Ron nodded at Harry, before also offering Draco a civil nod. "Welcome to the team, Malfoy."

"Thanks," Draco replied, giving the redhead a small smile. "But I would have appreciated a quieter start to the day."

"That's what happens when you have a wild weekend," Harry chuckled, telling Ron about Draco's weekend with a wild witch. Even though they were dealing with death, things in the Auror department tended to stay light-hearted or else doing the job would just lead to serious depression. "If you weren't so knackered from your weekend of sex, you would be raring to go."

"I would rather have the weekend of hot sex," Draco smirked. "It was well worth being knackered for."

"I'm with Malfoy on this one," Ron laughed. "A weekend of hot sex, is definitely worth being knackered for on a Monday morning."

"And my only reason for being knackered is the kids," Harry grumbled. He was a father to two boys under three, and guardian to his godson Teddy, who was a few months away from starting Hogwarts. "I can't remember the last time I had a weekend of wild sex."

"Well if you do remember, don't share it with me," Ron warned. Since Harry was married to his sister, Ginny, he had no desire to hear about his friend's sex life.

Harry chuckled lightly, before turning his attention back to the matter in hand. "So Ron, what do you have for us?"

"Ernie works for his father-in-law's company, manufacturing brooms," Ron answered. "He's been married for three and a half years to a witch called Veronica Campbell. Veronica is older than Ernie by four years, and she attended Beauxbatons. They live in Surrey, and have no children. According to Ministry records, Veronica was out of the country last night. She's registered as using an international portkey to re-enter the country at six this morning."

"Where was she?" Draco asked.

"She was in France," Ron answered.

"Okay, we better go and see Mrs Macmillan," Harry said as Ron handed over the address. "I've arranged a meeting for three, hopefully Hermione will have something for us by then," He told Ron. "And could you sort the witness statements from the hotel? According to the M.L.E officers they're pretty useless, but if there's anything to spot you'll find it."

"No problem," Ron replied, sliding the pile of statements over to where he was sitting. "Is there anything else you need me to do?"

"Could you arrange meetings for all the staff who were on duty at the hotel last night?" Draco asked, giving Ron the list they'd received from the manager. "We're going to speak to the receptionist when we've finished with Ernie's wife, so don't bother with her."

"It'll all be done for when you get back," Ron promised. "And Harry, tell Ernie's wife how sorry I am. We may not have been great friends in school, but it's still terrible when someone you know is killed."

"Yes, it is," Harry agreed sadly as he and Draco got up to leave.

* * *

The visit to the Macmillan house quickly provided Harry and Draco with their first solid lead on the case. Ernie's wife, Veronica, didn't seem at all broken up about her husband's death and when Harry and Draco pushed her she admitted she was planning on filing for divorce.

"That's what I was doing in France," Veronica explained. "I spent my school days in France, and I plan on returning there. I was buying a penthouse in Paris. I have all the details of the wizard I was dealing with, he'll confirm I was in France when Ernie died."

"Why exactly were you divorcing Ernie?" Harry asked. "The Ministry has no records of you filing for divorce." He knew that if she'd already filed for divorce than Ron would have discovered it and informed them before they left the Ministry.

"I haven't filed for divorce just yet, my lawyer was still putting together my application. It was going to be filed sometime this week," Veronica answered. "And as for why I was divorcing him, my husband was a stinking cheat. I recently found out he's been sleeping with a former school friend of his."

"Do you know who?" Draco asked.

"A witch named Susan Bones," Veronica answered. "My lawyer has pictures of them together, I'll get him to send a copy to the Ministry for you."

"Could Ernie have been with Susan last night?" Harry asked.

"I have no idea," Veronica replied. "And frankly, I don't care. The second he cheated on me, he ended our marriage. Now if that's everything, I have things to do."

"We'll be in touch if we need anything else," Harry said. "And we're very sorry for your loss."

Ernie's wife merely snorted in reply as she stood up and showed the two Aurors to the door. The second they stepped outside, the door closed in their faces and they were left to ponder on the widow's words.

"Do we go and see Susan now, or wait until later?" Draco asked.

"We'll go and see the witch from the hotel first," Harry answered. "I'll page Ron and see if he can find Susan's address for us. If we have time we can call in there before our meeting."

Once Harry had sent the message to Ron, the two Aurors headed off to continue their investigations. Unfortunately the witch who'd been on reception was less than helpful. With a bit of prompting she vaguely remembered Ernie, and she thought he had a woman with him. However, her description of the woman was vague and all Draco and Harry discovered was that Ernie was with a good-looking witch with long brunette hair and a good figure.

After speaking to the witch from reception, they used the information they'd gotten from Ron to pay Susan Bones a visit. Susan worked from home as an editor for a book company, so the two Aurors didn't have to worry about approaching her while she was working. When they'd broken the news of Ernie's death, Susan had broken down in floods of tears as she admitted their affair.

"We loved each other," She sobbed. "Ernie was going to leave his wife and we were going to start a life together."

Harry and Ron exchanged sceptical looks while Susan sobbed into her handkerchief. They'd both been investigating crimes for long enough to know that married men always told their mistresses they were going to leave their wives for them. They also knew that the vast majority of men never did leave their wives.

"Did you see Ernie last night?" Harry asked gently.

"No," Susan replied with a slight shake of her head. "I was with my family last night, it was my aunt's birthday and we all had dinner together. I didn't leave my aunt's house until after midnight."

"Do you have any idea what Ernie was doing last night?" Draco asked while Harry made a note of Susan's alibi so they could get Ron to check it out.

"His wife was away visiting a friend in France so he was going out with some friends," Susan replied.

"Do you know which friends?" Draco asked.

"Justin Finch-Fletchley and Zacharias Smith," Susan answered quietly, before breaking down into tears again. "Who would do this to Ernie? Why would anyone want to hurt him?"

"We don't know what happened, yet," Harry said. "Ernie's death might be a tragic accident."

"Promise me you'll find the truth, Harry," Susan pleaded with the raven haired Auror. "Please find out what happened to Ernie and why."

"We will," Harry vowed. "I promise, we'll get to the bottom of this."


	3. Chapter 3

Hermione gathered up her notes as she prepared for the meeting in the Auror Department. However, before she left her office, Hermione double checked her reflection in a compact mirror she kept in her desk. Normally she wouldn't check her appearance before heading up to the Auror Department, but normally she wasn't going to be sitting in a room with the man she'd just spent the weekend in bed with. Despite not planning on having a repeat performance with Draco she couldn't help wanting to look her best before she saw the blond Auror again.

When Hermione entered the Auror Department, she easily found the room where the investigation would be ran from. Hermione wasn't sure if she was relieved or disappointed when she entered the room and there was no sign of Draco. Harry was sitting at the head of the table, reading a file while Ron was standing at the clear board at the head of the room, sorting the visual evidence. Currently he was putting up a picture of Ernie, alongside his name. Over the course of the investigation, the cause of death, suspects and any other gems of information would be placed on the board.

Harry looked up from his work when and smiled at Hermione when she entered the room. "Do you want a coffee?"

"I'll get it," Hermione answered.

Setting her papers down on the table, Hermione walked over to where the coffee machine was standing. She knew that when an investigation was ongoing, the coffee machine was nearly always on as Harry and Ron devoured cups of the stuff as they did his work. Harry's former partner had never being big on the coffee, since it was mainly a muggle thing, so Hermione had no idea whether or not Draco would be drinking the beverage the way her friends did.

"Where's Malfoy?" Hermione asked as she sat down at the table.

"He's just getting confirmation of a few things," Harry replied. "He'll be here shortly."

"Why did you never mention he was going to be your partner?" Hermione asked, deciding to use Draco's absence to find out how she'd not known the blond wizard was joining the British Ministry.

"I did," Harry replied.

"When?" Hermione asked.

"I said sometime last week when Kingsley told me. I thought you were around at the time, maybe you weren't," Harry answered. "Why? You don't have a problem with him, do you?"

"No, I don't have a problem with him," Hermione replied with a sigh.

"It sounds like you do," Ron remarked as he took his seat at the table. "Come on Hermione, what's bothering you about Malfoy being Harry's partner. You were the first one to forgive him after the war, so what's your issue with him?"

"My issue is, I slept with the bugger," Hermione admitted quietly. "I didn't know he was transferring over here. I thought he was only in the country for the weekend. I never would have slept with him otherwise."

"You're the witch he spent the weekend with?" Harry gaped at his best friend. "You're the sex kitten he's spent the entire day boasting about."

"Sex kitten?" Hermione snorted as she raised an eyebrow in Harry's direction.

"It was Malfoy who called you that," Harry replied with a chuckle. "I think the word lioness was also thrown about at one point."

"Did you really leave scratch and bite marks all over him?" Ron questioned.

"No, I did not, he's just exaggerating," Hermione answered with an annoyed tut. In all honesty she had no idea if Draco was exaggerating, or if he was marked from their time together since it had been fairly wild at times.

"I still don't get the problem, though," Harry said, deciding it was wiser not to delve too much into what Draco and Hermione had been up to over the weekend. "Why does it matter if Malfoy has moved back home? Surely that's a good thing, it means you can see more of him."

"Getting involved with someone you work with is messy," Hermione answered. "I'd rather not have to deal with my personal life at work."

"It's only as messy as you allow it to be," Ron said with an unconcerned shrug. "I've dated a few witches from the Ministry, and it's never been messy."

Hermione decided not to point out to Ron that the witches he'd dated from work all worked in different departments, meaning he only saw them in passing. Whereas she and Draco both worked in the same department, and they would be working together a lot of the time, meaning there was a lot more potential for disaster.

"Sorry, I'm late," Draco announced as he entered the room, ending any further conversation the three friends would have had.

"It's fine, we're not going anywhere," Harry answered. "Did you get what you went for?"

Draco nodded as he placed a file onto the table and slid into the empty seat beside Ron. With everyone present, Harry checked the door was securely shut before he began the meeting. Even though he and Draco were joint lead Aurors on the case, Draco was more than happy for Harry to take charge since he was still new to the British Ministry.

"Hermione, do you have cause of death?" Harry asked. Cause of death was vital to their investigation as until they had it they didn't know if they were dealing with a crime or not.

"I do," Hermione nodded. "Ernie was poisoned. He died due to a lethal combination of aconite and hemlock entering his bloodstream."

"Aconite and hemlock?" Draco checked with a frown. "Why both? Why not just use one, both are deadly."

"It was a combination of the two," Hermione explained. "It's quite possibly the most lethal poison I've ever seen. Within a minute of it entering Ernie's bloodstream, he would have been struggling to breath. He died roughly two and a half minutes after being infected."

"How was the potion administered?" Harry asked.

"The scratches on his back," Hermione replied. "They were indeed nail marks, but that's where the poison entered his system. Whoever scratched him, poisoned him."

"Could it have been accidental?" Harry checked. "Could whoever he was with have scratched him, not knowing she was poisoning him?"

"She knew," Hermione stated. "Her nails had to have been coated in the poison, meaning she had to have been aware of the poison's presence. She would have had to be so careful not to scratch herself, or put her finger in her mouth or anything like that."

"That's why the wounds were so deep," Draco said. "She was making sure the poison entered Macmillan's system quickly."

"Yes, she wanted a fast death," Hermione agreed. "Light scratching would have still administered the poison into Ernie's system, but it would have taken longer to kill him and he would have suffered a lot more before he died. The poison was so strong that he died quickly, whereas both aconite and hemlock usually kill in a slightly slower manner if used on their own."

"So, we've established Ernie was killed, and he was killed deliberately," Harry said as Ron got up and began adding detail to the board of information.

"That's why there were no fingerprints in the room," Draco said. "The killer wanted to leave no trace of themselves."

"Are we convinced the killer is a woman?" Ron checked, not wanting to put anything down they weren't happy with. "Obviously the way Ernie was killed indicates he was with a lover, but could it have been a man using some sort of false nail contraption."

"No, Ernie was definitely with a woman," Hermione said. "The sheets we examined contained bodily fluids from both a man and a woman. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough of the female sample to run through our databases. We were lucky to get what we did."

"So she's clever," Harry mused. "She used magic to remove all evidence of her ever being in the room, including anything she may have left on the bed."

"I think the tiny specimen we found came from Ernie himself, possibly when we turned him over," Hermione said. "But even if she had left more, unless she's got a criminal record it wouldn't have been any good to us."

"We could have used it to rule out our two prime suspects," Draco said. "Ernie's wife, and Ernie's mistress."

"Ernie had a mistress?" Hermione questioned in shock. Even though she hadn't known Ernie was married, she still wouldn't have thought he was the type to have a mistress.

"Susan Bones," Harry supplied. "However, I've checked her alibi and it checks out. I spoke to her aunt, Amelia, and she confirmed that Susan was at her house last night. She didn't leave until after midnight."

"And Ernie was killed a little past quarter past eleven," Hermione said.

"Are we sure Susan's aunt isn't covering for her?" Draco asked as diplomatically as he could. He knew Amelia Bones was the former head of the Law Department and Harry and Ron's old boss, but he also knew you couldn't treat people you knew any different to those you didn't, and questioning if people were being truthful was part of their job.

"I'm fairly sure, but Amelia gave me a list of everyone who was present at the dinner. We can check them out tomorrow," Harry replied.

"I can do that," Ron volunteered. Checking alibis was part of his job, leaving Draco and Harry to deal with other things.

"Thanks," Harry smiled and nodded at his best friend. "For the time being Susan is still a person of interest, but how about Ernie's wife. How does her alibi hold up?"

"Ministry records show Veronica Macmillan left the country via an international portkey two days ago," Draco said. Checking on the widow's alibi was what he'd been doing before the meeting. "She returned early this morning, the same way. I spoke to the French wizard she bought her penthouse off, and he can confirm he had several meetings with her since her arrival in Paris, including one yesterday evening."

"So she has an alibi for Ernie's death," Harry sighed, disappointed they'd reached two dead ends so quickly.

"No she doesn't," Draco said. "The meeting finished at nine, and from there she's supposedly alone in her hotel room. I spoke to the hotel and they have no way of registering if a guest is actually in their room when they're supposed to be. Veronica could have easily apparated home, killed her husband and returned to France."

"Do we think that's likely?" Harry questioned.

"I think it's a bit of an extreme way to kill a man you're supposedly planning on divorcing, but we can't rule it out," Draco replied. "The fact is, Macmillan's widow has the motive and the opportunity to kill him."

As the discussion about suspects had been going on, Ron had been adding things to the board. Digging into his flies he'd found pictures of both Veronica and Susan and placed them on the board, along with what they knew about their alibi's.

"What about Macmillan's friends?" Draco asked Ron. "Did you get in touch with them?"

"I did," Ron answered with a nod. "Both Justin and Zacharias said the same. They went for a drink at a new bar a few streets away from the hotel where Ernie was killed. They both left before Ernie, but when they left he was chatting to a woman at the bar. Neither of them could give a decent description. The best I could get was that she was a brunette, according to Justin her hair reached just below her shoulders, but Zacharias said it was longer than that. The only other thing I got from Zacharias was that she had a great pair of tits. His words, not mine."

"How does that help?" Hermione asked, curling up her nose as Zacharias's description of their potential killer. "What could be nice breasts to him, aren't to someone else. Does he mean they're big, or what?"

"We'll talk to him again, and see if he can be more detailed," Harry said. "But for now, we do have a slight description of our suspect. The girl on reception of the hotel said she was brunette and attractive."

"Don't forget, this means nothing," Ron said as he wrote down what little was known about their potential suspect. "Just because she was described as a brunette doesn't mean she is. Glamour charms can change appearances in an instant."

"Plus, brunette covers a multitude of colours," Hermione added. "Is her hair dark brown, or light brown? Not to mention the style, is it straight or does she have curly hair or straight hair with a kink?"

"We know, physical descriptions aren't always reliable in the wizarding world," Harry said to his two best friends.

"Maybe so, but we're getting somewhere," Draco said, looking over at the board Ron was creating. "At the minute it's looking like Macmillan was picked up at the bar he went to with his friends and lured back to the hotel. The killer then had sex with him, and scratched him to administer the poison. She then removed all trace of herself from the room and slipped out of the hotel, probably via the back entrance."

"Why via the back entrance?" Hermione asked.

"The hotel has an anti-apparition charm on the majority of the hotel. You can only apparate from a couple of designated rooms, and you have to pass through security to enter the rooms," Draco explained. "No-one apparated from the building last night, and according to the two security wizards on the door no-one left the hotel after eleven last night."

"The question is, did Ernie know the killer, or was she a stranger?" Harry mused, thinking out loud. "Was it his wife in disguise, or was it a killer for hire? Was his wife so mad at his cheating she decided it would be better to kill him then to divorce him?"

"I think we should speak to her lawyer," Draco said. "It sounded as though he was building a case to file for divorce."

"We also need to speak to Ernie's lawyer and check if he had a will," Harry added, making notes of what they needed to do the following day. "And we need to get back to the bar Ernie was at last night. Maybe someone else can give us a better description of our mystery witch."

"I can find Ernie's lawyer and arrange an appointment," Ron said.

"And I want to look into this poison a bit more," Hermione said. "It's a very unusual combination, so I'm hoping that'll give us some clues as to where the killer got it from. I don't suppose many people sell aconite and hemlock together in the same poison."

With jobs settled for the next day, the meeting broke up and everyone headed their separate ways as they looked to discover who killed Ernie and why.


	4. Chapter 4

With a sigh, Hermione settled at her desk and slipped her heels off. She'd been on her feet all day as she'd tried to find out more about the poison that had killed Ernie. Unfortunately she'd drawn a blank and couldn't find anywhere that supplied a potion consisting of both hemlock and aconite. She was beginning to suspect the killer had whipped up the poison themselves, it would certainly explain why it was so unique.

Turning her attention away from Ernie's death for a while, Hermione set about sorting the post that was sitting on her desk. The majority of her post was work related, but near the end of her pile she found an envelope containing a free sample of a new brand of lipstick. Hermione was just admiring the lipstick when there was a knock on the door. Looking up she found Draco hovering in her doorway.

"I was wondering if you wanted to get a drink," Draco said.

"I thought I told you yesterday, there'll be no repeat of the weekend," Hermione replied as she threw the free lipstick into her top drawer.

"I'm only asking you for a drink," Draco said. "I won't try and seduce you. I promise. Just have one drink with me as a friend, or even as a new colleague."

"I suppose one drink won't hurt," Hermione said as she slipped her feet back into her shoes. "Is it just the two of us, or is anyone else coming with us?"

"Potter was heading home to his family, and Weasley had a hot date," Draco answered. "We've arranged to have a drink later in the week. Tonight, there's just you and me."

"As long as you don't get any ideas," Hermione warned as she stood up and grabbed her jacket and bag. "We can be friends as well as colleagues, but that's it. There'll be no more sex."

"What exactly have you got against dating someone you work with?" Draco asked as the pair exited Hermione's office and made their way to the lifts. "It's not against Ministry policy. Kingsley has no problem with relationships between Ministry employees as long as they don't interfere with their work."

"I would just prefer it if my private life and work life were separate," Hermione answered.

"Why?" Draco pressed. "Have you had a bad experience dating someone from work?"

"No, I just don't want to risk making work complicated," Hermione replied. "I love my job, and wouldn't want a complicated love life to ruin things."

"But what if things didn't get complicated?" Draco questioned. "What if you're missing out on something special, because you won't break your rule?"

"And you're something special, are you?" Hermione chuckled as the pair arrived in the Atrium.

"Maybe," Draco replied with a smirk. "But unless you drop your stupid rule you'll never find out."

"That won't be happening," Hermione said. "And if you carry on pressing the issue, we won't even be having a drink together."

"I promised not to try and seduce you, and I'll keep that promise," Draco said. "I'll not say another word about our personal life."

"We don't have a personal life," Hermione pointed out. "Not unless we become friends."

"Friends will do for a start," Draco said. Hermione glared at him, but he merely chuckled at her. "I said I wouldn't try and seduce you tonight, I didn't mention anything about the future. I enjoyed our weekend together, and I fully intend to get a repeat performance out of you. In fact I'm hoping for several repeat performances."

Hermione shook her head, but she didn't reply as the pair flooed to a nearby bar. While Draco grabbed some drinks, Hermione found a corner booth that offered them some privacy. While she vowed not to fall back in bed with Draco, she wasn't opposed to spending time with him. Aside from the amazing sex over the weekend, she'd also enjoyed the blond's company and she hoped they would become good friends.

When Draco returned with the drinks, he placed them on the table and slid into the booth opposite Hermione. After thanking Draco for the drink, Hermione asked about the case. While she'd been busy investigating the poison she knew Harry, Draco and Ron had been equally as busy with the rest of the investigation.

"The wife's motive for killing her husband is looking shaky," Draco said. "We spoke to her lawyer and he confirmed he was placing the motion for divorce this week. He's got weeks' worth of evidence of Macmillan's affair. The divorce would have gone through without incident."

"Maybe she wanted Ernie dead rather than just divorcing him," Hermione suggested.

"She's got a whole new life lined up for herself in France," Draco said. "I don't see how killing her husband would benefit her. She was moving on with her life, killing her husband would have only messed that up."

"What about Ernie's will?" Hermione asked. "Would that have provided motive for him to be killed?"

"He didn't have a will, or a lawyer for that matter," Draco replied. "His wife's lawyer was the family lawyer, and he confirmed that Macmillan had no will or lawyer of his own. According to him, the wife wouldn't get any more than she would have from a divorce. Macmillan worked for his father-in-law, their bank account was a joint one and their house was in both their names. The lawyer reckoned the wife didn't want the house or his money, she just wanted to be free."

"You can't completely rule his wife out though, can you?" Hermione checked.

"No we can't," Draco admitted. "But Potter and I both agree that she isn't involved."

"What about Susan? Was her alibi confirmed?"

Draco nodded. "Weasley spoke to everyone who was present at her aunt's dinner and they all confirmed she didn't leave them all night."

"So we're down to trying to find witnesses to describe the mystery witch," Hermione said with a sigh. "How's that going?"

"We went back to the bar Macmillan was in with his friends and a few of the staff remember our suspect," Draco answered. "Unfortunately their description is every bit as vague as all the rest. One of the witches reckoned she had straight dark brown hair, which fell a few inches below her shoulders. Other than that all we got was that she was brunette and attractive."

"Was Zacharias any more help with his description?" Hermione checked, remembering her former classmate's description of the suspect's assets.

"Apparently her breasts are large, possibly enhanced someway," Draco answered.

"What makes you think they weren't natural?"

"According to Smith, they looked fake," Draco replied with a roll of his eyes. "In his expertise, they were too perky to be real. Personally I'm taking everything he says with a pinch of salt. He painted himself as some sort of sex god that's been with hundreds of women, therefore he's in expert in breasts."

"I can't imagine Zacharias Smith as a sex god," Hermione laughed. "Unless of course, he's changed majorly since school."

"Nah, he's still an irritating little twerp," Draco replied as he finished off his drink. "There's no way he's as successful with women as he claims. No self-respecting woman would go near a man who gets all excited at the idea of large breasts. He was practically drooling as he told us about our suspect. It's just a shame he didn't remember anything other than her large breasts. Maybe then we might have something to work with."

"Some men are suckers for a nice body and large breasts," Hermione replied with a shrug.

"He never mentioned anything about her body, just her breasts," Draco pointed out. "I don't think he noticed anything else about her."

"You don't sound impressed," Hermione laughed. "You can't tell me you haven't been dazzled by a witch's assets before and failed to notice everything else about her."

"Actually, I haven't," Draco replied. "I can't say I'm overly fussed on big breasts. I prefer ones that aren't too large and are a perfect handful."

Despite herself, Hermione found herself blushing as she remembered the previous weekend and thought about Draco's hands on her breasts. Her breasts were exactly how Draco described, and they'd fit perfectly in his large hands. In fact at one point she could remember him saying that she had perfect breasts.

"Although nice breasts aren't all I look for in a witch," Draco smirked, loving the fact that Hermione was obviously thinking of their weekend together. "I like her to have long, toned legs that wrap perfectly around my waist as I take her up against the wall. I also quite like long hair to run my fingers through, and of course I love it when she's got a talented tongue and a wicked mouth that's capable of saying all sorts of naughty things to me."

"Stop it," Hermione hissed, her blush growing significantly as every single thing Draco mentioned referred to their weekend together.

"Why?" Draco questioned with a smirk. "Am I making you uncomfortable? Or am I turning you on?"

"It's not going to work," Hermione said, ignoring that fact that Draco was right and he was in fact turning her on by making her think of their weekend together. "We will not be sleeping with each other again."

"Sleeping wasn't exactly what I had in mind," Draco laughed. "Of course, I did enjoy that part as well. I rather liked having your naked body draped over mine as I slept."

"Thanks for the drink, but it's time for me to leave," Hermione announced as she stood up. She knew that if she stayed much longer her self-control would snap and she would be inviting Draco back to her place. "I'll see you at work tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow, Granger," Draco said, laughing lightly as Hermione hurried away from him. He knew she wanted a repeat performance as much as he did, she was just more stubborn than he was and would need longer to accept that the pair of them sleeping together again was inevitable and nothing she could do would stop it from happening.

* * *

The witch approached her second target in a dingy wizarding bar with low lighting. She'd thought Ernie had been easy to seduce, but her second target was even easier. One flash of her long bronzed legs and her ample cleavage had the man she was targeting drooling like a teenager. After less than ten minutes in the bar, she persuaded her target to accompany her back to a nearby hotel.

Like with Ernie, she stayed back from reception and let her unsuspecting prey sort the room out. Within seconds her soon-to-be lover had a key and they made their way up to the hotel room. Entering the room, the witch placed her bag on the floor before she jumped the wizard she planned on killing. In a tangle of limbs, the pair fell back on the bed as their clothing was shed.

The sex was a lot better than she'd been expecting, and the witch had actually enjoyed herself. However, it wasn't enough to make her rethink her plans. She had a solid plan in place, and nothing was going to deter her from her goal of achieving her revenge on everyone on her lists.

"Do you want a massage?" She asked her lover as she slid off the bed. "I'm a masseuse, and I've got a new oil in my bag. I can give you a massage before we have another round."

"It sounds like fun," The wizard replied. "How do you want me?"

"Just lie on your front and relax," The witch responded with a wicked smirk. "Just leave everything to me."

While the wizard settled himself face down on the sheets, the witch headed over to her bag and produced a small bottle of massage oil along with a pair of protective gloves. Slipping the gloves on, she cast a spell on them so that her lover wouldn't know she was wearing gloves. With her hands securely protected, the witch headed back over to the bed with the bottle of massage oil. Straddling her lover's lower back, she uncorked the bottle and drizzled a good amount of the oil over his back.

Grinning with glee, the witch proceeded to give her lover a thorough massage. By the time she was finished rubbing the entire bottle of oil into her lover's skin, the wizard beneath her was groaning slightly and struggling for breath. Corking the bottle, she alighted from her lover's back and quickly stashed the bottle and gloves in her bag as she watched the wizard begin to suffer.

"I don't feel well," He muttered as he rolled onto his back.

"Poor baby," The witch pouted in fake sympathy. "Is there anything I can do?"

The wizard opened his mouth to reply, but nothing came out except a gasp for air. Fascinated by what was happening, the witch watched as the wizard on the bed gasped for air. Soon he was clutching at his throat and turning blue from lack of oxygen. With one final shudder, the wizard fell back on the bed and was still. Moving cautiously over to the bed, the witch checked he was dead before she began to get dressed.

Like she'd done two nights previously, the witch magically removed any trace of herself from the room once she was dressed. Satisfied that not even one stray fingerprint was left behind, she magically let herself out of the room and exited via the back door of the hotel. Also like Sunday night she walked for a few streets before she apparated home.

At home, she settled herself at her dressing table and struck a new name off her first hit list. Smiling widely at the sight of two marks on her list, she turned to her second list, wondering when she would mark a victim off from her second list. When would someone from list number two die?

* * *

 **A/N - Thanks for all the great reviews. I'm pleased people are enjoying the mystery, and I love hearing people's theories. Just in case I forgot to mention it, there's a pretty high body count in this story, so we've got plenty of murders to get through before we finally unmask the killer.**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N – Just a quick note to say I'll be adding an extra update to the schedule. This story will now be updated Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. It was only when I was sorting the next COTD, that I realised if I only updated twice a week this story wouldn't be finished before Christmas, and I don't want to take a festive break in the middle of the story. So now, updates will be three times a week, starting with this week. Now back to the murder, and as always thanks for the reviews. I'm loving hearing people's opinions on who the killer is and what her motives are.**

* * *

Ron shook his head as he scanned over the latest information he'd received about Ernie. With both his wife and mistress looking unlikely as suspects the search had begun into the rest of Ernie's life, which was where Ron had the chance to shine as he dug into his former schoolmate's life. Unfortunately, the initial findings weren't looking promising. It seemed that Ernie lived a pretty boring life, and the only secret he had was his affair with Susan.

Hoping something else would come up as he dug deeper, Ron gathered his papers to head to the conference room. A meeting was due to begin in less than ten minutes where they would run through what they knew and what the next steps would be. As Ron was gathering his papers, a nearby conversation between a M.L.E officer and an Auror caught his attention.

"What did you just say?" Ron asked the M.L.E officer.

"I said we've just received a floo call from a hotel in Edinburgh," The M.L.E officer repeated. "They have a dead wizard in one of their rooms."

"Was he naked?" Ron whispered.

"Yes," The M.L.E officer confirmed. "And from what the manager said, he seemed unharmed. We're guessing the killing curse was used."

"Or poison," Ron muttered. "Leave it with me, I'll get Harry and Malfoy to check it out."

"Do you think this is related to their case?" The Auror questioned as the M.L.E officer gave Ron the name of the hotel and left.

"It could be," Ron said. "I'll get them to go to the scene, but if it isn't connected to our case they can hand it over to you."

Leaving his things on his desk, Ron headed into the conference room where he filled Harry and Draco in on what was happening. The two field Aurors both swore at the possibility of a second victim.

"If this second death is connected, then we might have wasted two days looking in the wrong place," Draco grumbled.

"Let's hope I'm wrong," Ron said. "I just think we need to check it out. What's the chances of having two wizards found dead in hotels within a week?"

"Let's just hope we don't have a serial killer on our hands," Harry remarked as he grabbed his jacket and got the address of the hotel off his friend. "Thanks, Ron."

"See you soon," Ron called as the two Aurors swept out of the conference room and headed for the new crime scene.

As they headed for the lift, Harry paged Hermione with the address of the hotel. Neither Harry nor Draco spoke as they travelled down to the atrium as both of them were lost in thought over what a second body could mean. Silently the pair made their way to the Ministry fires and after double checking the address they flooed to the hotel.

Harry and Draco were greeted in the hotel's reception area, by two M.L.E officers and the hotel manager. While Harry briefly spoke to the manager and reassured him they would speak to him as soon as possible, Draco headed up to the new victims room with one of the M.L.E officers. Draco knew that while Harry was downstairs he would also check who was registered in the room, and make sure the M.L.E officers had things under control in the rest of the building.

When Draco reached the room where their victim had been found, he pulled on a pair of gloves before following the M.L.E officer into the room. Draco's initial sweeping assessment of the room and its victim was cut short when his grey eyes fell to the prone figure on the bed. Letting out a quiet gasp, Draco slowly advanced so he got a better view of the dead wizard.

"Greg," He whispered, staring down at his long-time friend, Gregory Goyle.

"Do you know him?" The M.L.E officer asked.

"I do," Draco confirmed in a hoarse voice that betrayed how shaken he was. "He's a friend of mine."

Draco wasn't sure how long he stood staring down to Greg's body, but it only felt like minutes before Harry came bursting into the room. His partner had clearly gotten to the room as quick as he could as he was slightly out of breath from running up the two flights of stairs from the reception. Harry skidded to a stop when he saw the body and let out a quiet profanity.

"I'm sorry Malfoy," Harry said sympathetically. "I was hoping the register was wrong. As soon as I saw the name Goyle, I rushed up here as quick as I could."

Draco nodded at Harry, not really listening to his partner as he stood staring down at his friend. As he stood there, Draco's mind was filled of memories of his friendship with Greg. He remembered when they were just kids, playing in the garden of the manor. He remembered starting Hogwarts with Greg and their other friend, Vincent Crabbe, at his side. He remembered how he and Greg had grieved together for Vince when their friend had been killed in the war. And lastly he remembered how infrequently he'd seen his friend in the ten years since they'd left school. While they were still friends and always exchanged birthday and Christmas cards and wrote regularly, they didn't see each other half as much as they should have and now Draco was regretting all the missed opportunities he'd had to spend time with his friend.

"You should head back to the Ministry," Harry said gently. "I can handle things here, and Hermione will be here soon."

"I want to stay," Draco said, snapping himself from his thoughts. "I need to know what happened with Greg. I need to make sure his killer is brought to justice."

"I understand, but he's also your friend and you need to grieve," Harry said. "Just let me know if you need a break."

Draco bobbed his head once before he turned away from the sight of his friend lying dead on the bed. "I'll check out the room and the bathroom."

While Draco examined the hotel room and adjoining bathroom, Harry carefully checked Greg's body over. As he suspected a simple spell revealed the killing curse hadn't been used on the former Slytherin. Judging by the fact Greg was naked in a hotel, he was guessing Draco's friend had been intimate with a witch before his death, but until Hermione arrived he didn't want to turn him over and check for scratch marks.

By the time Hermione arrived at the scene, nearly five minutes later, Harry was standing in the doorway waiting for her while Draco was sitting out on the balcony getting some air. Harry and Hermione exchanged sombre greetings at the doorway, and before they entered Harry warned his friend who the victim was.

"How's he holding up?" Hermione asked as they entered the room, gesturing towards the blond Auror who was sitting outside with his head in his hands.

"I think he's in shock," Harry replied. "I'm hoping we can get things done quickly here and return to the Ministry."

"Will he be taken off the case?" Hermione asked as she pulled her gloves on.

"I guess that depends on a couple of things. First, we're not even sure Goyle's death relates to Ernie's, and if it does Draco's continuation on the case will depend on how he reacts. If he can't cope and act impartially, he'll have no choice but to step aside. But I think, he'll hold it together and make sure we catch whoever has done this."

Hermione nodded her agreement of Harry's deduction regarding Draco as she began her examination of the body. Like Harry she fully expected Draco to be able to control his emotions enough for him to continue on the case. If anything she suspected Greg's death would only spur Draco on and make him more determined to catch the killer and bring her to justice.

"Can you help me turn him over?" Hermione asked Harry once she'd completed her examination of the front of the body.

When they turned Greg over both Harry and Hermione expected to find deep scratch marks on his back, but they were surprised to find his back mark free.

"Does this mean we're looking at someone else, or a different cause of death?" Harry questioned. When Draco had reported there were no fingerprints at all in the room they'd both came to the conclusion that they were dealing with a second victim of the same killer.

"I don't know until I do an autopsy," Hermione replied. "If Greg was poisoned like Ernie, the poison wasn't administered the same way. Of course checking for poison will be my first priority, and I should be able to let you know if he was poisoned by lunchtime."

"Thanks Hermione," Harry said, offering his friend a sad smile.

"My team were on the way, they should be here any minute," Hermione said as she removed her gloves and stepped away from the body. "Make sure they're careful handling the body. Until I know if he was poisoned and how, we need to be extra careful."

"Why can't you make sure they handle the body carefully?" Harry asked with a frown. Hermione rarely left a crime scene without speaking to her team.

"I'm going to check on Draco," Hermione replied.

Harry nodded in understanding as Hermione crossed the room to the balcony and pulled open the doors. Hermione stepped out onto the balcony, before she pulled the door closed behind her to allow her and Draco a bit of privacy. Of course everyone in the room could see them through the glass doors, but they wouldn't be able to overhear what they were saying.

"I'm so sorry, Draco," Hermione said, sliding down so she was sitting next to Draco on the floor.

"You'll get your dress dirty," Draco said quietly.

"It'll clean," Hermione replied as she wrapped her arm around Draco's shoulders. "How are you?"

Draco let out a long breath as he tried to find the words to explain how he was feeling. Not knowing what to say he shrugged his shoulders, and uttered the only word that came to mind. "Numb."

"I expect you are," Hermione said softly. She could only imagine the pain Draco felt at being confronted with the body of one of his friends, especially since she knew he would more than likely take on the job of informing Greg's family himself. "If you need anything, just let me know."

"Thanks." For the first time since Hermione had arrived on the balcony Draco looked up and she saw the unshed tears swimming in his grey eyes. "Has Greg been poisoned?"

"I don't know yet, he doesn't have scratches like Ernie," Hermione replied. "But I'm going to make it my priority to discover what killed him."

"Thank you," Draco said, giving Hermione a grateful smile.

Hermione smiled back at Draco, before she impulsively darted forward and gently pressed her lips against his. The kiss was a soft, brief one, meant to give Draco a bit of comfort. Judging by the small smile on the blond's face when their lips parted, Hermione suspected she'd managed to give him a bit of comfort. Giving the Auror another smile and a quick hug, Hermione rose to her feet and brushed down the back of her dress.

"I'll see you back at the Ministry."

Draco nodded as Hermione headed back into the hotel room. Taking a few deep breaths, Draco brushed away the unshed tears from his eyes before he followed Hermione back to work. He would grieve for Greg later, right now he had his killer to catch.

* * *

By lunchtime Hermione had indeed discovered that Greg had been poisoned by the same poison as Ernie, however it wasn't yet clear how the poison had been administered. After making sure Draco, Harry and Ron were aware they were dealing with a second victim, Hermione spent her afternoon working out how Greg was poisoned.

It was a long process to work out just how the poison had entered Greg's system, but eventually Hermione worked it out. Since there was no wounds for the poison to enter Greg's bloodstream, her first port of call was ingestion. However, there was nothing to indicate that Greg had drank or ate the poison. After that she set about examining his skin, and discovered the poison had been absorbed through the skin. More tests revealed the poison had been mixed with massage oil and massaged into Greg's back.

With her findings in a file, Hermione headed off to the Aurors office late on the afternoon. When she arrived in the conference room, she found Harry and Ron hard at work. However, there was no sign of Draco, not even his jacket was sitting on the back of his chair.

"Where's Draco?" She asked, as she sat down at the table with her two friends.

"He went home," Harry replied. "Informing the Goyles their son was dead was pretty rough on him. I made him go home and get some rest before tomorrow. And speaking of which, we're having a meeting at nine to discuss where we are with the case."

"I'll be there," Hermione promised. "And I've got more news on Greg. I know how the poison entered his system. It was massaged into his back."

"Someone gave him a massage with poison?" Ron asked, his eyebrow's shooting up into his hairline in surprise.

"Yeah," Hermione nodded. "The poison was mixed with massage oil and thoroughly massaged into Greg's skin. It would have taken him between ten and fifteen minutes to die. This wasn't quick like Ernie."

"I'm guessing the killer had more of a problem with Goyle," Harry mused as Ron got up to update their board. "We'll have to discuss it in the morning. I want everyone here before we start throwing around theories."

"Will Draco still be on the case?" Hermione asked, wondering if the fact the blond had gone home would affect anything.

"Yes," Harry replied. "He's determined to help catch the killer. He just went home to try and deal with what had happened. He'll be back as normal tomorrow."

"Even so, maybe you should go and check on him," Hermione suggested to Harry as she left the official autopsy reports with Ron and stood up. "He needs to know he's not alone."

"Actually, we were thinking you should go and check on him," Harry said. Scribbling something down on a piece of parchment, he handed it to Hermione. "There's his address. Will you please go and check on him tonight."

"Is this really the time to be setting us up?" Hermione asked, although she took the slip with Draco's address on and slipped it into her bag. "He's grieving for his friend, I hardly think romance is top of his agenda."

"We were only suggesting you check he was okay," Harry said. "Offer him some comfort in his hour of need."

"Couldn't you two offer him comfort?" Hermione asked.

"Something tells me Malfoy will appreciate the comfort you have to offer much more than anything he'd get from us," Ron answered with a smirk.

"I'll go and see him, but only as a friend," Hermione said.

As Hermione turned and exited the conference room, Harry and Ron exchanged smug looks. They had no doubt that Hermione would go and visit Draco with good intentions, but they also strongly suspected that she would be there for the blond no matter what he needed. And in their opinion, what he needed right now was Hermione.


	6. Chapter 6

Once she was finished work, Hermione debated whether to head straight to Draco's or to go home and change first. Deciding that heading home to change was just an excuse to put off the temptation she knew she was going to face, Hermione settled on heading directly to the blond Aurors place. Luckily her work attire was pretty nice, and she didn't need to put fresh clothes on to look decent.

Double checking the address Harry had gave her, Hermione headed out of the Ministry before apparating to Draco's penthouse. Draco lived in a brand new wizarding complex by the river, and Hermione was extremely impressed with the place as she rode up the elevator to the top floor. Hermione herself lived in a lovely flat, but it was nowhere near as impressive as the building that Draco lived in.

Taking a deep breath and gathering her thoughts, Hermione knocked on Draco's door. It took a few minutes, but eventually the door was opened by a tired looking Draco. Draco had changed out of his work clothes and was now wearing a pair of dark jogging bottoms and a deep green t-shirt.

"Hermione, what are you doing here?" Draco asked.

"I just came to check how you were doing," Hermione replied. "I can go if you want to be alone," She offered, not sure if Draco wanted to be disturbed.

"I'd rather not be alone," Draco admitted as he stepped back and allowed Hermione to enter the penthouse.

Hermione hung her jacket up on the coat rack and left her bag in the hallway, before following Draco into the front room. Draco offered Hermione a drink as the brunette witch settled down on the large sofa. After getting Hermione a glass of wine, Draco sat down beside her and picked up his half drank glass of firewhisky.

"How are you doing?" Hermione asked, watching warily as Draco drowned his drink in one go and magically refilled the glass.

"I don't know," Draco answered with a small sigh. Placing his full glass down on the coffee table, he sat back and ran his hands through his hair. "We went to tell Greg's parents the news this afternoon," He told Hermione.

"Harry mentioned it."

"It was so hard," Draco whispered quietly. "I've known Greg's parents for years. I really don't think Greg's mother will survive this. Between the war and Greg's father spending a few years in Azkaban, she's already in pretty bad health. This could finish her off."

"I'm sorry," Hermione said, taking hold of Draco's hand. "I'm not really sure what to say. I know what good friends you were with Goyle, this must be tough."

"I just keep thinking of all the time we could have spent together and didn't," Draco said. "We'd barely seen each other these last few years."

"You did live in different countries," Hermione pointed out. She could hear the guilt in Draco's voice as he berated himself for not seeing his friend as often as he could have.

"We both know that doesn't make much difference," Draco replied. "We could have still seen each other more often. I should have made more of an effort to keep in touch."

"People drift apart," Hermione said. "It's a part of life. I can count on one hand the number of people I'm still in contact with from school."

"But you're still friends with Potter and Weasley, and they were your two closest friends in school. Greg was one of my closest friends, and we barely saw each other," Draco argued.

"I'm still as close to Harry and Ron because we work together," Hermione said. "I'm pretty sure that if we didn't work together, we wouldn't see each other as often. I'm also fairly certain that if I'd moved away after school that we would barely see each other. How much do you see your other friends? Was Goyle the only one you saw so infrequently, or is it the same with all your friends?"

"I suppose you're right," Draco admitted thoughtfully. "I've barely seen Theo and Blaise as well. I was planning on waiting until I'd settled in and organising a get together. I suppose the get together will now be Greg's funeral."

Not knowing what to say, Hermione wrapped her arm around Draco's shoulder and gave the blond a hug. "Have you ate?" She asked, wanting to do something practical to help.

Draco shook his head in response. "I'm not hungry."

"Well I am, and you need to eat," Hermione replied. "Do you have any food in, I can whip something up if you like."

"The kitchen's fully stocked," Draco answered.

"Come on then, you can help," Hermione said, standing up and pulling Draco to his feet.

The pair made their way to the kitchen, and Hermione was amazed by how well equipped it was. The kitchen was clearly designed for someone who cooked, and spent quite a bit of time in the kitchen. The amount of food in the cupboards only confirmed Hermione's suspicions that Draco was not only capable of cooking, but enjoyed it.

"You look surprised," Draco chuckled as Hermione gazed around the kitchen in awe.

"I must admit, I never expected such a good kitchen," Hermione replied. "You obviously like to cook."

"I didn't at first, but I had to fend for myself when I left home," Draco answered as they gathered the ingredients to make a beef stir-fry. "Mother offered to give me one of the elves, but I was trying to change. I refused the offer and set about learning to look after myself. I slowly learnt to cook, and these days it's actually something I enjoy."

"I love to cook as well," Hermione said as the pair began to prepare the stir-fry. "I used to cook all the time with my Mum when I was little, but after I went to Hogwarts we didn't have as much time together. It wasn't until after I moved into my own place that I got back into cooking."

As they made dinner, Hermione and Draco shared a few stories about their childhood. By the time they settled down to eat, Hermione had gotten Draco to open up about his friendship with Greg and the blond was sharing stories of their past. Talking about Greg seemed to help Draco, and Hermione was pleased to see him crack a smile a couple of times, and at one point he even laughed as he recounted a humorous anecdote from their youth.

"I really should be going," Hermione said reluctantly as she checked the time and found she'd been with Draco for several hours.

"Don't," Draco pleaded. Taking hold of Hermione's hand to stop her from leaving, he gently brushed his other hand over her cheek. "Stay with me."

"I'm not sure that's a good idea, Draco," Hermione said softly. While she wanted to stay and be there for Draco, she knew they would probably end up in bed and she wasn't sure if she was ready to deal with the complications that would bring up.

"We both know you want to stay," Draco whispered, inching closer to the brunette witch. "It doesn't have to change anything. I just don't want to be alone."

Hermione looked into Draco's grief stricken grey eyes and found she didn't have the heart to leave him. Staying the night probably wasn't her wisest decision, but she would deal with the consequences at a later date. Right now Draco needed her, and she felt an overwhelming need to be there for the handsome blond wizard in whatever way he wanted.

"I'll stay," She agreed, reaching up and brushing her fingers down the side of Draco's face. "But this won't change anything. I'm still not willing to get involved with you."

"Whatever you say," Draco replied quietly. Right now he didn't have the heart to argue, but somewhere deep inside he registered that Hermione's words were more for her benefit than his as she tried to convince herself to keep her distance from him.

Slowly Draco leant forward and closed the small gap between their two faces. As their lips connected in a soft kiss, Hermione could instantly feel the difference from the weekend. Over the weekend every kiss they'd shared had been heated and full of sizzling passion, but this kiss was sweet and tender and was fuelled by something a lot gentler than raw sexual desire.

The couple remained on the sofa for nearly half an hour as they continued to kiss in the same soft, languid way. Eventually Draco tore himself away from Hermione and stood up. When he offered Hermione his hand, she took it without a second thought and the pair silently made their way to Draco's bedroom.

When they entered the bedroom, Draco didn't bother turning on the light. Instead the pair used the moonlight to see as they slowly began to undress one another amidst more slow, sensual kisses and soft, lingering touches. With them both completely naked the pair settled on the bed, where they continued to gently kiss and caress each other.

Slowly the touching and kissing became more heated as their sexual chemistry began to sizzle. Despite the lust flaring in each of them, they still took their time together. Draco slowly made love to Hermione, rather than repeating the spicy sexual exploits of the weekend. Even with the very different approach, the sex was still amazing and both Draco and Hermione were extremely satisfied by the time they collapsed onto the silk sheets as they recovered from their exertions.

"You are staying, aren't you?" Draco checked as the couple lay spread out on top of the bedcovers.

"I'm not going anywhere," Hermione reassured him with a small smile.

After both using the bathroom, and tidying themselves up a bit, the pair climbed into Draco's bed, both of them still completely naked. Hermione snuggled herself close to Draco, and wrapped in each other's arms the pair fell asleep.

* * *

The first thing Draco thought about when he woke up was Hermione. She was still snuggled into him and he could feel her wonderful curves pressed right up against his naked skin. Draco revelled in the feeling of having Hermione in his bed for a few minutes, before the reason she'd stayed with him re-entered his head. Thoughts of his dead friend had an immediate effect on Draco, and soon the partial erection he'd been sporting had deflated.

"Are you okay?" Hermione asked quietly as she lifted her head from Draco's chest.

"I'm fine," Draco replied, offering Hermione a small smile. "How are you? You're not regretting last night, are you?"

"No, I don't regret last night," Hermione answered honestly. "And just for the record, I don't regret our weekend together, either."

"Good, because that weekend was a highlight for me," Draco said. "It's most definitely the best sex I've ever had, and I don't want the memory tainted by you regretting it."

"Don't worry, I don't regret it," Hermione said. Making sure the sheets were wrapped around her and covered her bare body, Hermione sat up in bed. "How are you feeling about yesterday? Are you ready for work, or do you want to take some time off?"

"I'm not taking time off," Draco insisted. "It's going to be hard, but I'm going to help catch the bastard that did this. I'm going to get justice for Greg, and for Macmillan."

"Just remember if you ever need to talk, I'm here for you," Hermione said, leaning over and giving Draco a quick kiss.

"And what if I need to do more than talk?" Draco asked mischievously as his hand slid up Hermione's bare leg and dipped in-between her thighs. Instinctively Hermione parted her legs, and she couldn't contain the shudder that wracked her body as Draco's talented fingers got to work.

"We've talked about this," Hermione ground out as she fought back a moan. "This isn't a good idea."

"Let me convince you otherwise," Draco said, giving Hermione a wicked grin before he dove under the covers.

Deciding to save her protests for later on when she was dressed and thinking clearly, Hermione closed her eyes and gave herself up to Draco's touch. The combination of Draco's fingers and mouth soon had Hermione crying out in pleasure, and once he'd finished under the covers he set about making love to Hermione yet again.

Eventually the couple rolled out of bed, and while Draco headed to the bathroom, Hermione hurriedly got dressed. The sight she was greeted with when she poked her head around the bathroom door to say goodbye nearly had Hermione stripping off and joining Draco in the shower, but she managed to keep herself under control.

"Are you sure you don't want to join me?" Draco asked from under the hot spray of the water when Hermione announced she was leaving.

"As tempting as it is, I have to go," Hermione replied. "I need to shower and change before work. If I shower here, I won't have time to change and I don't want to show up at work wearing yesterday's clothes. People will talk, and I don't like to be gossiped about."

And just like that, Draco understood part of the reason why Hermione was reluctant to get involved with him. She didn't have a problem with dating someone she worked with, she just didn't want to be talked about. Dating a colleague brought gossip, and Hermione didn't want to be the subject of people's conversations.

"Okay, I'll see you at work," Draco replied with an understanding smile as Hermione gave him a wave and exited the bathroom.

After grabbing her bag and jacket, Hermione apparated home where she set about preparing for another day at work. Just because she'd spent the night with Draco, didn't mean she had to advertise the fact. No doubt Harry and Ron would ask questions and make innuendoes, but she saw no point in fuelling the fire by turning up to work in yesterday's outfit. She would turn up looking her normal immaculate self, and if she was lucky their focus would be on the case in hand, not the love life of their two colleagues.


	7. Chapter 7

Arriving at work, Draco was relieved when he didn't receive a pile of sympathetic looks and remarks from his colleagues. The few people he spoke to on the way to the conference room they were using made polite conversation, but there was no mention of the fact one his best friends was dead and he was part of the team investigating the death. When Draco entered the conference room to find Harry and Ron already present, he was pleased when the two former Gryffindors greeted him like normal. He could see the questions in both men's eyes, but he appreciated that they didn't feel the need to check he was okay.

"Thanks for yesterday," Draco said to Harry as he took off his jacket and placed it over the back of his chair. "I appreciated the time off."

"You would have done the same if the positions had been reversed," Harry replied.

Draco nodded as he turned his attention to the new look board Ron was creating. With the two deaths now connected, pictures of both Ernie and Greg were on the board. The suspect list was now also empty with the elimination of Susan and Ernie's wife. Even if there was any doubt that either woman had killed Ernie, there was no doubt involving their lack of connection to Greg's death. As far as Draco knew his friend hadn't seen Susan since school, not that he would have known her even if he had seen her, and he'd never met Ernie's wife.

"We're just waiting for Hermione," Ron explained as Draco poured himself a cup of coffee. "I think she was getting the results of a few tests before heading up here."

"What sort of tests?" Draco asked as he sat down at the table.

"She was double checking the poison was the same in both cases," Harry answered. "You know what Hermione's like, she likes to double check things. Even though her initial tests showed it was the same poison, she's not taking any chances."

"It's the best thing to do Harry," Ron said, taking his own seat at the table. "With multiple tests it's harder for a lawyer to argue there's been a mistake. When we make an arrest we don't want them to escape a jail sentence on a technicality."

Harry and Draco nodded their agreement. The last thing either of them wanted was for the killer to escape justice because their investigation hadn't been thorough enough.

"Sorry I'm late," Hermione announced as she entered the room carrying a file with her.

"You're not late, you're right on time," Ron said as he jumped up to grab a coffee for his best friend.

Hermione smiled gratefully at Ron as he placed a cup of coffee in front of her as she took her seat at the table. "Thanks. I'm sure before we begin you want confirmation that we're dealing with one case. I can do that immediately, the second test results have come back and confirmed we're dealing with the exact same poison."

"We expected that, but at least now we're a hundred percent sure," Harry said. "Thanks Hermione."

"Do you have anything else about the poison that might help us?" Draco asked, deliberately not thinking about the previous night with the brunette witch. Right now his priority was solving the case and Hermione was merely his work colleague. "Weren't you looking into where you could get it from?"

"I was, but that wasn't successful," Hermione answered. "I spoke to several potion makers and they all said the same thing, using aconite and hemlock in the same concoction isn't done. None of them would dream of mixing the two poisons. You could check on the black market to see if they sell anything like this, but my money is on the killer making the poison themselves."

"Why wouldn't you mix the two poisons?" Ron questioned.

"There's no need," Hermione said with a shrug. "Both aconite and hemlock are extremely dangerous on their own. Mixing the two together is unnecessary."

"The killer doesn't think so," Harry pointed out. "Does that mean they're not very good at potions, and don't realise just how deadly the two ingredients are separately?"

"You don't need to be good at potions to know that," Draco argued. "Aconite was one of the first things we learnt about in first year potions, it's extremely basic knowledge to know that's its dangerous. The same with hemlock, we learnt about it in first year Herbology and again it's basic knowledge that it's very dangerous."

"So why use them both together?" Ron questioned.

"To make sure they got the job done," Hermione suggested. "I've analysed the potion used, and in both cases it was extremely strong. Ernie may have died quicker than Greg, but both deaths were exceptionally quick to occur. Whoever did this wanted a fast death."

"Because they wanted to stick around to watch," Draco muttered in disgust.

"How do you figure that?" Ron asked.

"If all they wanted to do was kill, they didn't have to use such lethal amounts of the poison. One scratch of her nails would have poisoned Macmillan, only it would have taken longer to enter his bloodstream and kill him. The same goes with Greg," Draco explained. "They could have used a lesser dose of poison in the massage oil and it would have still worked its way into his system and killed him."

"Maybe the killer didn't want to risk either Ernie or Greg getting to a hospital and getting an antidote," Harry suggested.

"I can't speak for Macmillan, but I doubt Greg would have known he was suffering from the effects of hemlock and aconite poisoning," Draco said. "He wouldn't have known to get to a healer."

"I doubt Ernie would have either," Hermione added. "If the poison had taken longer to work, the pair would have suffered from stomach cramps and loss of breath. They could have easily attributed the symptoms to a general illness. Besides, if they had gone to the hospital I would seriously doubt any healer could have correctly diagnosed their condition. When I got the first tests results back on Ernie, I ran them three times because I couldn't believe I was seeing both aconite and hemlock present in the poison. No healer would suspect a poison combining the two."

"Would there be an antidote for the two combined?" Harry asked.

"I'm guessing a bezoar would work since it's supposed to be a universal antidote, but I wouldn't like to bet on it," Hermione answered. "I'm going to start working on an antidote, just in case this escalates."

"Let's hope it doesn't," Harry murmured, even though all four of them in the room knew there could be more victims if they didn't solve the case quickly. "But on that note, I think we need to try and get some focus on the case. How do Ernie Macmillan and Gregory Goyle connect to one another?"

"From what I've learnt so far, they don't," Ron answered as all attention turned to him. It was his job to dig into the victims lives and find a connection between the two. "Obviously there's the fact they went to Hogwarts at the same time and were in the same year, but even that is a very basic connection. One was a Slytherin, one was a Hufflepuff. One was a prefect and one of the top students, the other barely scraped through lessons. From what I can remember from school the pair barely knew one another."

"They didn't," Draco agreed. "I could probably count on one hand the number of times Greg would have even spoken to Macmillan. You all know that inter-house friendships barely existed in Hogwarts, especially with us Slytherins. We stuck together and had very little to do with the other houses."

"Exactly." Ron nodded in agreement with Draco's assessment of the situation. "Unfortunately, that tenuous connection is the only one I can make. Since school, I can find nothing at all to link them together. Ernie got a job at his future father-in-law's company a few months after leaving school. Back then he shared a flat with Justin and Zacharias, until he got involved with the boss's daughter. From there Ernie got married and moved into the house in Surrey with his wife. He excelled at work, and his friends consisted of former Hufflepuffs he went to school with and his work colleagues. Even socially, I can't find any evidence he would have ran into Goyle."

"What about Goyle?" Harry asked. "What was his life like after school?"

"It took him longer to get a job, but that was because he was looking after his mother. She had a heart attack when his father got sent to Azkaban," Ron explained. "Once she was on the mend, Greg got a job with a building firm up in Scotland. He moved up to Edinburgh, and he's been there ever since. He never married, but over the years he's had a few girlfriends. He'd risen up the ranks in his job and he was a construction supervisor with the building firm. Like Ernie, his friends consisted of the people he worked with and the people he was friends with at school. Of course, I've had more time to look into Ernie's life, but I'm fairly confident that more digging in Greg's won't reveal a connection."

"Even so, find out everything you can," Harry said to his friend.

"Of course," Ron replied with a nod. If there was a connection apart from Hogwarts, he'd find it.

"Do we know anything about Greg's last hours?" Draco asked. He knew Harry had been planning on going to speak to some of Greg's friends the previous afternoon.

"It's a similar story to Ernie," Harry replied. "Greg had gone for a drink with some friends from work. According to his friends, a witch approached him and began chatting him up. Greg seemed taken with the witch, so they left him to it."

"Let's guess, she was an attractive brunette witch with a large cleavage," Draco grumbled.

"And stunning legs," Harry added. "One of the blokes mentioned she had long, tanned legs. She was also apparently wearing a very short, very tight dress."

"It sounds like the same witch," Draco remarked. "And it definitely sounds like she targeted Greg. She approached him, she picked him out."

"It could still be random," Harry said, making sure they covered all options. "She could just be picking random men up in bars and Ernie and Greg got unlucky."

"If she was picking up random men, why go for ones that were out with friends?" Ron questioned. "If all she wanted was a man to kill, she could target wizards who are drinking alone. By picking up someone with friends, she risks the friends being able to give a description of her."

"You think she deliberately targeted Ernie and Greg?" Harry asked his friend. He respected Ron's opinion and knew that his friend was pretty good and reading people's reasons for doing things.

"I do," Ron replied. "I just think that if it was random, she could have chosen easier targets. Although the fact she's not bothered about people giving a description of her is worrying."

"It is," Harry agreed.

Harry and Ron had already spoken about the fact they had a description of the suspected killer from two different sets of people and that they matched perfectly. In their opinion it meant the killer was using spells or potions to change her appearance, or even more worryingly she wasn't worried about being caught. A killer who wasn't worried about being caught was a dangerous species, so they were both hoping for the former explanation being the reason the descriptions of the killer matched.

With Ron planning on digging into the lives of the two victims, Harry and Draco decided to revisit each crime scene, as well as paying visits to the two bars where the victims met their killer. Hermione meanwhile had some other work to do, as well as trying to find an antidote to the double strength poison. Arranging to stay in touch if they found something, the meeting broke up and the foursome headed off to continue their work of trying to catch the killer before she struck again.


	8. Chapter 8

Hermione was consulting with one of the Ministry's top potions experts when the pager clipped to her skirt sounded. Even though she'd been hoping to make an antidote to the poison herself, she just didn't have time and had sought help from the experts. However, the antidote would be made in the forensic lab and Hermione would oversee the entire process.

Unclipping the pager, she read an address and the Auror number assigned to Dennis Creevey. "Sorry, I have to go,"

"It's fine, you go," The wizard replied, shooting Hermione a dazzling smile. "I've got everything in hand here."

"Thanks," Hermione replied, not even noticing that the handsome wizard was flirting with her.

Leaving the potions expert to it, Hermione headed to her office to grab her things. Making sure she had everything, Hermione headed down to the atrium, where she apparated to where she was needed.

Hermione landed outside a large house in the countryside. Down a winding lane she could see a village stood nearby, but the house itself stood alone. Judging from the large front gardens, Hermione suspected the owners of the house were pretty well off and the entire property probably contained a few acres of land.

Making her way up the garden path, Hermione was greeted by a M.L.E officer at the front door. The officer, led her into a large entrance hall and pointed her up a curved marble staircase. Following the directions she'd received, Hermione made her way up the stairs and towards the bedroom she was directed to. Entering the room, she found Dennis standing looking down at the body of a prone female.

"Hi Dennis," Hermione greeted the younger wizard as she snapped her gloves on. "What do we have here?"

"The victim is Pansy Parkinson," Dennis answered, stepping aside enough for Hermione to spot the raven black hair of the witch she'd went to school with. "Her fiancé called us ten minutes ago. Apparently they'd spent the morning together, just lounging around the house. They were supposed to be going out this afternoon, so Miss Parkinson headed upstairs to get ready. Mr Nott followed her upstairs about fifteen minutes later and found her collapsed on the floor."

Hermione sighed inwardly at the sight of yet another person she'd went to school with lying dead. It had been a tough week, and she didn't like the fact she was dealing with so many people she knew, even if she hadn't known any of them that well. Pushing aside her emotions and acting like the professional she was, Hermione knelt down beside Pansy and began examining her body.

Hermione couldn't find any obvious cause of death, but she would know better when she got the former Slytherin back to the Ministry. Sending for her team, Hermione watched as the M.L.E officers and Aurors bagged a few things that had been found on the floor and checked for other evidence.

"What happened?" Dennis asked.

"I don't know yet," Hermione answered. "It looks like something internal. Did you ask her fiancé about medical conditions?"

"Yeah, he reckons she's fit and healthy," Dennis replied.

"Was there anything suspicious around her body?" Hermione checked.

"Her cosmetics and stuff had been knocked from the dressing table," Dennis answered. "We think she might have grabbed onto it before she collapsed and pulled the stuff off with her."

Hermione's eyes swept around the room, looking for something suspicious as Dennis left her to go and speak with Theo again. Hermione hadn't found anything when her team arrived. Issuing directions, Hermione watched as her team gently began to prepare Pansy for removal. When the former Slytherin was lifted off the floor, Hermione spotted a glint of silver on the carpet underneath where she'd been lying. Reaching down, she sighed in disappointment when she spotted a lipstick tube. Calling for one of the M.L.E officers, she had them bag the lipstick as evidence. Since it was underneath Pansy, there was a possibility that it might help them in some way.

Satisfied her team could finish off and get Pansy back to the Ministry, Hermione pulled off her gloves and headed downstairs. On the ground floor, she found Dennis sitting in the front room talking to a devastated looking Theo Nott. Hermione hadn't seen Theo since the end of school, but she instantly recognised the former Slytherin. As she watched him brush tears from his eyes, it suddenly hit her that Draco had just lost yet another friend.

"I'm heading back to the Ministry now," Hermione said softly as she gained Dennis's attention. "I should have cause of death by tomorrow morning."

"Granger?" Theo questioned, turning his attention to the witch standing in the doorway of the room. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm the pathologist," Hermione answered. "And I'm very sorry for your loss. I promise, I will find out what happened to Pansy."

"Thanks," Theo whispered in a hollow voice.

"Is there anyone you want me to call?" Hermione asked, feeling immensely sorry for the broken wizard in the front room. "I can let Draco know what's happened when I get back to work."

Theo nodded, swallowing a couple of times before he trusted himself to speak without crying. "I would appreciate that, thank you."

"It's the least I can do," Hermione said quietly, before she slipped out of the room and slowly exited the house.

When Hermione arrived back at the Ministry she took a few minutes to compose herself and ensure Pansy's body had arrived safely. Dreading the fact she was going to break more bad news to Draco, Hermione made her way to the Auror Department. Making her way to the conference room they were based in, Hermione took a deep breath before she pushed open the door. Inside the room she found no sign of Draco, the only person present was Ron who was sitting with the entire table covered with papers.

"Hermione, have you got something?" Ron asked, looking up in surprise as his friend entered the room.

"Not about the case," Hermione replied. "I need to speak to Draco, do you know where he is?"

"He and Harry are out revisiting the crime scenes," Ron answered. "I can page him if it's urgent."

"It's urgent," Hermione whispered as she sunk down in one of the chairs.

Ron quickly sent a message to Draco asking him to return to the Ministry urgently, before he took a seat next to Hermione. "What's wrong?" He asked gently. "You're not pregnant, are you?"

"What?" Hermione looked up at Ron with a frown on her face. "Why would I be pregnant?"

"You and Malfoy spent the weekend together, and from the sounds of it you spent very little of that weekend with clothes on," Ron answered. "And you probably spent last night with him as well, considering I tried to floo you around midnight and there was no answer."

"Firstly, even if I was pregnant, which I'm not, it would be far too early to tell," Hermione retorted. "And secondly, if that was the case I would speak to Draco in private after work."

"So what's so urgent?" Ron asked. "You definitely look like something's bothering you."

Hermione let out a long sigh as she thought about the news she had to deliver. "I've just been called out to deal with a woman found dead in her house. It was Pansy Parkinson. Now I've got to tell Draco that another of his friends are dead."

"That's terrible," Ron said, before a frown creased her forehead. "How did she die?"

"I don't know yet, I haven't started the autopsy. I wanted to tell Draco what had happened," Hermione replied.

"Is there a possibility she's linked to this case?" Ron asked.

"Why would she be linked to this case?" Hermione frowned. "Both Greg and Ernie were poisoned after sexual activity with a brunette witch. Pansy had just spent the morning with her fiancé. I don't see the connection."

"She went to school with Ernie and Greg and that's still the only connection I can find between them," Ron answered. "It may just be a coincidence, but you said you didn't know how she died. Could she have been poisoned?"

Hermione wanted to instantly dismiss Ron's suggestion, but as she thought about it she found she couldn't. There was no obvious cause of death for Pansy, so poisoning could be a valid option. However, if Pansy had been poisoned she had no idea what it would mean for their case. It would certainly make things more complicated.

"I guess it's a possibility," Hermione admitted after a long pause. "I'll run preliminary tests when I get back to the lab."

Getting back to the lab and running tests soon left Hermione's head when a frantic looking Draco and Harry returned to the office. After reassuring them nothing more had happened on the case, Ron took Harry out of the conference room to give Hermione some alone time with Draco.

"What the hell is going on?" Draco questioned when Hermione asked him to sit down. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Hermione couldn't help but smile at the concern the blond wizard was showing for her, it was certainly telling that his first thought was of her and that she was okay. "I've just been called out to attend to a death. I'm sorry to have to tell you this Draco, but Pansy's dead."

Draco opened and closed his mouth a few times as he tried to find the words to ask all the questions he had. While Draco was recovering from the shock, Hermione explained exactly what had happened and what she knew. After a brief pause, she also told him Ron's suspicions, but she also made it clear that it was just speculation at this point.

"I think Theo might need your support," Hermione said to the shell-shocked blond. "He was a mess when I saw him earlier."

"He will be, Pansy was his whole world," Draco whispered quietly. "He always loved her, even in school when she was oblivious to his presence. He couldn't believe his luck when she agreed to go out with him. He spent months planning the perfect proposal, and he promised her anything she wanted for the wedding, no matter how wild it was. And knowing Pansy, it would have been extravagant."

"Go and see him, Draco," Hermione urged softly. "Go and comfort your friend."

"I want to see Pansy first," Draco said. Sitting upright he pushed down his own turbulent emotions and hid them behind the mask of professionalism. "Will you let me see her before I leave?"

"Yes, I'll let you see her," Hermione said quietly.

Standing up the pair made their way out of the conference room. Harry and Ron were sitting nearby and Draco informed Harry that he was going to see Theo, but would hopefully be back before the end of the day. Harry, however, insisted that Draco take the rest of the day off. Yet again, he'd lost another friend and none of them could imagine the turmoil the blond Auror was going through. Thanking Harry and Ron for their support, Draco accompanied Hermione down to her lab.

Hermione led Draco into the room where Pansy was laid out ready for her autopsy, and when the blond let out a few tears for his former girlfriend, Hermione wrapped her arms around him. Draco held onto Hermione, taking comfort from her as he dealt with the blow of losing yet another friend.

"I'm so sorry Draco," Hermione whispered, brushing a gentle kiss on the blond's cheek. "Just let me know if there's anything I can do for you."

"You just being here for me is all I need," Draco replied. Burying his head in Hermione's curls he couldn't help but think how much having her support meant to him, without her he suspected he would be a mess after losing both Greg and Pansy so close together. "That, and you finding out what happened to Pansy."

"I will," Hermione vowed as the pair separated.

"Let me know when you find out anything," Draco said, taking one final look at his friend.

Promising to keep Draco in the loop, Hermione watched as a weary looking Draco exited her lab to go and visit with his bereaved friend. Once Draco was gone, Hermione turned back to the job in hand. Brushing aside personal matters and feelings, Hermione entered her pathologist mode and set about working out what killed Pansy.

Three hours later, Hermione swore softly as the results came back on Pansy's toxicology report. She'd been poisoned, just like Ernie and Greg. The poison was exactly the same as the one used on the two wizards, now Hermione just had to work out how Pansy had been poisoned. They now had a third victim, only this time the M.O and choice of victim was different to the previous two killings.


	9. Chapter 9

It was heading onto midnight before Draco finally arrived back at his penthouse. He'd spent the afternoon and the evening with Theo, consoling him over the loss of Pansy. A few hours after arriving at Theo's, he'd received a page from Harry and had briefly popped back to the office where his partner had confirmed Pansy had been poisoned with the same poison as Greg and Ernie. Harry told Draco that they'd officially taken over the case, and would start working on it first thing in the morning.

When Draco went back to Theo's, he explained to his friend that they would now be handling Pansy's case. Theo was shocked that Pansy was the victim of the same killer as Greg, but he was relieved that Draco would be handling the case. It made things a lot easier knowing someone who cared was looking into Pansy's death.

Eventually Draco left Theo for the night, but not before he made sure his friend would be prepared for them asking questions the following day. Satisfied that Theo would be okay on his own, Draco headed home and tiredly collapsed onto the bed after pulling off his shoes. Normally Draco wouldn't dream of sleeping in his clothes, but at the minute he didn't have the energy to get back up and get undressed.

Lying on the bed with sleep nowhere near happening, Draco couldn't help but think of his two dead friends. If it hadn't been for the fact Ernie had been killed first, he would have thought someone was targeting former Slytherins. He couldn't believe that during his first week on the job that he was dealing with the deaths of two of his oldest friends.

In a bid not to think of his two fallen friends, Draco rolled over and got a strong whiff of Hermione's scent from the pillow beside his. Burying his nose in the pillow, he smelt the coconut smell he'd come to associate with Hermione's brunette curls. Breathing in the scent, Draco couldn't help but wish Hermione was with him now. He would give anything to have Hermione in his bed, helping him forget about his grief.

Draco contemplated going over to Hermione's flat, but one look at the time had him changing his mind. It was well after midnight, and it wasn't really fair on Hermione for him to just turn up in the middle of the night. Besides, she might not welcome his presence. She was more than willing to comfort him the previous night, but there was still no indication she thought of it as anything more than a one off.

Finally dragging himself up, Draco stripped off his clothes and climbed back into bed. Pulling the pillow that smelt like Hermione into his arms, he drifted off to sleep with her scent in his nose and thoughts of the beautiful brunette witch swimming around his head.

* * *

Unlike most days when the team meetings were held first thing, it was early afternoon before the meeting was held. Hermione had wanted extra time to try and get as much information as possible, so the meeting had been pushed back. Instead, Harry and Draco had spent their morning helping Ron try to find a link between their three victims. Of course there were plenty of links between Greg and Pansy, but neither of them linked to Ernie. Like Greg, Pansy hadn't seen Ernie since school and they could find no connection between the two former Slytherins and the former Hufflepuff.

Just after lunchtime, Hermione arrived in the Auror department and the group settled in the conference room. As usual they all settled down with a cup of coffee, before the meeting got underway.

"I ran extra tests on Pansy to confirm that she was killed with the same poison," Hermione began. "We're looking at the same killer, or at least the same distinctive type of poison was used."

"It's the same killer," Harry said. "Or at least that's how we're going to treat it. Since the poison is so unique and can't be bought anywhere, what are the chances of two separate killers mixing the same two poisonous ingredients together?"

"Practically zero," Ron answered. "I agree, we have to treat this as one case."

"Are we sure the poison can't be bought on the black market?" Hermione checked.

"I've spent the morning looking into it, and I got the same response as you did," Draco said. "No-one mixes aconite and hemlock."

"So we're working on the bases that we're dealing with one killer," Harry reiterated. "Do you know how the killer poisoned Pansy?" He asked, turning to Hermione.

"I do," Hermione answered. "The poison was in Pansy's lipstick. She absorbed the poison when she put the lipstick on. Like with Ernie and Greg, the poison was so very strong and got into Pansy's bloodstream within minutes."

"How did Pansy get the poisoned lipstick?" Ron questioned.

"I don't know, that's for you lot to find out," Hermione replied. "But my guess would be the killer slipped it into her bag. All the killer had to do was get close enough to Pansy to slip the lipstick into her bag, then she sits back and waits for Pansy to use it."

"Would she though?" Harry questioned with a frown. "Would Pansy use a lipstick she just randomly found in her bag? Wouldn't she be suspicious?"

"Not necessarily," Hermione replied. "Pansy's make-up had been knocked off her dressing table when she collapsed, and she had a lot of lipsticks and lip-glosses. It took me well over an hour to isolate the poisoned lipstick. She might not have noticed the lipstick wasn't hers."

"Pansy always did have a lot of make-up," Draco added. "It makes sense that she wouldn't spot an extra lipstick among her belongings."

"I still don't know," Harry grumbled with a shake of his head. "I still can't believe she wouldn't realise the lipstick wasn't hers."

"Maybe she just couldn't remember buying it," Hermione said. "I know I do that with my nail varnishes. I've got a massive box full and I sometimes find a bottle and can't remember buying it. It's feasible that Pansy found the lipstick in her bag, and just couldn't remember buying it."

At the mention of Hermione's collection of nail varnishes, Draco's eyes dropped the brunette's hands. Right now her nails were a baby pink colour, but over the weekend they'd been a deep emerald colour. Draco could remember commenting on the fact she had her nails painted in Slytherin green over the weekend.

"Okay, so it's possible that Pansy wouldn't have noticed an extra lipstick in her collection," Harry conceded. "But when did the killer slip it to her? And why use that method? She couldn't guarantee Pansy would use the lipstick, and she certainly couldn't predict when she would use it. Why such a hands off approach with Pansy when we've already established she'd watched both Ernie and Greg die."

"Maybe her grudge against Macmillan and Greg was more personal," Draco suggested. "Maybe it meant more to her to see them die and suffer. Maybe Pansy was more of a side thought."

"Even so, Harry's right about one thing," Ron mused. "The killer can't have known Pansy would definitely use the lipstick. They were taking a risk by just planting a lipstick on her. It doesn't guarantee her death."

"What if there's more?" Hermione questioned thoughtfully, her mind focusing on the bags of make-up sitting in her forensics lab that was found on the floor surrounding Pansy's body. "I only tested the lipsticks for poison, because that's how Pansy was infected. What if some of her other make-up contains the poison?"

"It would certainly heighten the odds of her using some of it," Draco said. "Can you check it out?"

"I'll start running tests when we're through here," Hermione replied. "Although, I would like to test any other make-up and cosmetics Pansy has at home. We just bagged the stuff that had been knocked off her dresser, she's bound to have more at home."

"We can gather that when we go and see Theo," Draco said.

"Are you sure you're up to going to speak to Theo?" Harry checked with his partner. "I can take Ron if you would rather stay here."

"I think Theo would prefer it if I were there," Draco replied. "I know it's not going to be easy, but I need to carry on as normal."

"Okay." Harry gave his partner a sharp nod and dropped the subject. He knew if Draco couldn't cope that he would step back and let him and Ron take charge of things.

"Is that all?" Hermione asked, eager to get back to her lab and begin her testing. "Or do you need me for anything else?"

"I think that's it for the time being," Harry said, looking at Ron and Draco who both nodded and agreed they'd covered everything that needed covering.

"I'll let you know if I find anything," Hermione said as she stood up.

"We'll drop the rest of Pansy's make-up off when we return," Draco said.

Thanking Draco and offering him a warm smile, Hermione departed the conference room and headed back to her lab. With Hermione gone, Draco and Harry got ready to go and see Theo while Ron continued searching through the victims lives. The more he searched the more he was becoming convinced the connection they were looking for was related to school. The only question was how the three connected from their Hogwarts days, or technically how Ernie connected to Pansy and Greg.

Leaving Ron to his research and theories, Harry and Draco headed off to Theo's house. When they arrived a tired looking Theo answered the door and ushered them through to the front room. He then called for a house elf, who served them tea, before they settled down to talk.

"I'm very sorry about your fiancée," Harry offered. Even though he and Pansy hadn't particularly liked each other in school, the past was gone and he saw no point in holding onto grudges from ten years previously.

"Thank you," Theo answered in a quiet voice. "Do you know more about what happened to Pansy? I know Draco said it was connected to Greg's murder, but how?"

"Both Pansy and Greg were poisoned," Harry answered. "Along with another of our former schoolmates, Ernie Macmillan."

"Ernie Macmillan," Theo repeated, frowning as he tried to place the wizard from school. "I can vaguely remember him. He was a Hufflepuff, wasn't he? Wasn't he the prefect in our year, a bit of a stuck up prat if I remember correctly. How does he connect with Pansy and Greg? Pansy won't have seen him since school, and I doubt Greg would have either."

"That's what we're trying to figure out," Draco said to his friend. "At the minute the connection is looking like it revolves around school. Can you remember anything that might link Pansy or Greg with Macmillan back in Hogwarts?"

"Not a thing," Theo replied instantly. "We Slytherins didn't have much to do with people from other houses, you know that Draco. Greg would never have dreamt of fraternising with other houses without your permission, and Pansy was pretty much the same. Neither of them would have given Macmillan the time of day."

"We might be completely wrong, and there may be some other connection," Harry said. "But rest assured, we'll find out what's happened and why."

"Thank you, I appreciate that," Theo said thickly.

"We do have a few more questions, Theo," Draco said gently. "Firstly, Pansy was poisoned by a lipstick. Has she recently mentioned finding a lipstick she couldn't remember owning or anything like that?"

"No, Pansy never spoke to me about her make-up," Theo replied. "But she had bucket loads of the stuff, I'd doubt she'd notice an extra lipstick among her things."

Harry and Draco shared a knowing look, it would appear Hermione's theory was right. The killer had slipped Pansy the lipstick knowing she wouldn't even realise it wasn't something she'd bought herself.

"We'll have to take the rest of her make-up and cosmetics in for testing," Harry said. "We need to check in case more of them have been poisoned."

"Of course, you can take what you need," Theo answered. "Now I have a question for you. Is there going to be more victims? Are more people in our year in danger?"

"Until we know why the killer is doing this, we can't answer that," Draco said. "The fact the three victims were all in the same year at school could be a coincidence."

"Or it could be the reason they were killed," Theo argued. "I don't know about you, but I think it's a pretty big coincidence that all three poisoning victims went to school together. From where I'm sitting, I think the rest of us should all be looking over our shoulders."

Draco and Harry exchanged yet another look as they wondered if Theo had just hit the nail on the head. Were people being targeted because of the year they were in at school? If so it meant their entire investigation team were possible targets, as well as several other people. Theo's question had also opened up the possibility of warning people. Didn't they have a duty to warn the public that a serial killer was on the loose?


	10. Chapter 10

After acquiring her latest target in her sights, the witch casually strolled up to the bar where he was standing. Sliding up beside him, she gave him her most flirtatious smile as she ordered a drink from the barman. However, unlike with Ernie and Greg, he just smiled back pleasantly and didn't make any move to flirt back. Confident in her ability to seduce him, the witch edged even closer and began to openly flirt with him.

"You're very nice, but I'm not interested," The wizard said with a low chuckle. "I'm already involved with someone."

The witch frowned, not happy about the mention of a prior partner. Before she'd set out on her killing spree, she'd found the addresses of all the men she wanted to kill and had made a note of the married ones. Even then, she hadn't been bothered by the fact several of her targets were married. In her experience men were all pigs and would sleep with any witch if the opportunity presented itself, even if they did claim to be happily married. However, this latest target hadn't been noted as having someone in their life.

By the time the witch recovered from her shock, her target had grabbed his drinks and made his way across the bar. Watching him go, understanding dawned on the witch when the wizard she'd been trying to pick up, slid into a booth with another person who was also on her list and gave them a warm smile. She'd been under the impression the two wizards were just friends, but it would seem they were more than friends.

Realising she wasn't going to get anywhere with either of the two wizards, she quickly left the bar and headed home. As she picked another target and found where she would likely find them, she considered what to do about the two wizards. She certainly couldn't kill them by luring them into bed, but she also wasn't prepared to just leave them alone. They may be together now, but they weren't when it mattered and as such they had to pay like everyone else.

Suddenly settling on an idea, the witch pulled out a couple of tubs of body paint from her bedroom cupboard. She already had one in her bag that she'd been planning on using that night, but she could easily add poison to a few more. Taking half an hour to add the poison to another couple of small tubs of body paint, she slipped the tubs into an envelope and magically added the name of one of the wizards on the front. She then put the envelope to one side, to anonymously post the following day.

With plans sorted for the two wizards who were immune to her feminine charms, the witch rechecked she still looked good before heading out to a different bar. Within half an hour she spotted the wizard she was looking for and approached him. Unlike earlier in the night, her attention was immediately returned and just like she planned they were soon leaving to head to a nearby hotel. Very soon, she would claim her next victim.

* * *

Sitting down for a late breakfast, the witch picked up the morning paper and began to read. Almost immediately she found a small article about the death of Pansy Parkinson. As she read the article, she let out a happy laugh. Finally, the first person on her second list was dead. Hopefully, more would follow in the coming days.

Moving on from the article regarding Pansy, her eyes widened when she found a larger article about the deaths of Ernie and Greg. The Aurors had very quickly connected the two deaths, and had a vague description of her. When she read the warning that wizards shouldn't head back to hotels with strangers, she couldn't help but laugh. She doubted any wizard would take the warning seriously, but she would find out as she continued to strike wizards off her list.

As she was reading, the witch got a further shock when the two Aurors investigating the case were named. She was very surprised to see Draco's name as her information had him living in France, but Harry's presence on the case wasn't quite as surprising. Unfortunately both men were on her hit list, but with them investigating the case they wouldn't be stupid enough to go back to a hotel with her. It looked as though she would have to find a different way to get rid of the two Aurors.

Placing the paper down, the witch headed into her bedroom where she struck Pansy off her second list. As her eyes fell on the envelope she was planning on posting that morning, she suddenly decided how she was going to get rid of Harry. A tub of body paint would go to him in the post, no doubt he and his wife would enjoy such a gift. And if Harry's wife also perished through using the body paint, well she wouldn't be shedding any tears over her. She could also try sending one to Draco, but she wasn't sure if he had anyone to use it with. Then again, he'd always been adept at attracting women, no doubt he had someone who would be willing to play about with body paint with him.

Plans sorted, the witch located a few more tubs of body paint that she tainted with the poison. She then packaged them up and magically addressed the two envelopes. Getting ready to go out, she pulled on some gloves and magically removed her fingerprints from the three envelopes. She then picked the envelopes up and headed out to post her deadly gifts.

* * *

Hermione didn't often work on a weekend, but with events of the past week she was spending her Saturday afternoon in her lab. Over the last few days she'd released the bodies of Ernie and Greg, and just that morning she'd allowed Pansy's body to be returned to her family. However, she still had more work to do, hence her presence in her lab. At the minute she was just gathering the last of the results on Pansy's cosmetics.

Once all the data was collected, she decided to take a brief break and go up and deliver the news to Harry and Draco. Both the Aurors were up in the conference room working alongside Ron. Even though they hadn't found a solid connection between the three victims, they were busy re-interviewing the people in their lives in case they'd missed something.

Arriving in the conference room, Hermione placed the file with her results in on the table.

"Well?" Harry questioned.

"All of Pansy's cosmetics were clean," Hermione replied. "There was only one tainted lipstick."

"I still say that was a big risk to take," Ron remarked. "The killer couldn't have been sure she was going to use the lipstick."

Just as the debate was beginning on why the killer had only planted a single lipstick on Pansy, a M.L.E officer knocked on the door. At his sombre expression all four of them knew he was going to deliver bad news.

"You've got another victim," The M.L.E officer said quietly. "We've got another report of a naked wizard found in a hotel room."

"Crap," Harry swore. "This is the third wizard in under a week. She's moving quickly."

"We'll just have to move as quickly in catching her," Draco said. "Although some clues might be helpful."

"Moving so quickly, she's bound to slip up sooner or later," Ron commented.

"Let's hope it's this time," Harry said. "Hermione, go and grab your stuff and we'll meet in the atrium."

While Harry and Draco got the address of the hotel, Hermione headed to her lab to get her bag and jacket. Meeting up with Draco and Harry in the atrium, the trio flooed to the hotel where the newest victim had been discovered. Hermione stood to one side while Draco and Harry spoke to the manager and the M.L.E officers at the scene. When they were ready, the trio boarded the lift and headed up to the correct floor.

Entering the hotel room, Draco, Harry and Hermione all gasped at the sight of the body in the bed. The wizard was completely naked like the others, but this time his wrists were handcuffed to the headboard of the bed and he was wearing a black blindfold. But most disturbingly was the fact the wizard was sporting a full erection, which looked to be coated in some sort of yellow lotion.

"What the hell?" Draco muttered as they all pulled on their gloves.

"What do you think Hermione, do we have another one?" Harry asked.

"Let's wait and see, Harry," Hermione replied as she moved closer to the bed.

Carefully Hermione removed the blindfold, and Harry took a closer look at the victim. Immediately Harry decided he knew him, but he couldn't quite put a name to his face. Luckily, Draco had found the wizard's clothing and found his wallet in his trouser pocket.

"It's Michael Corner," Draco supplied.

"So it is," Harry muttered with a sigh. "Yet another person from our year. It's looking increasingly like that's our connection."

While Draco agreed with Harry and the pair set about investigating the room, Hermione began her examination of the body. Like with the others, there was no obvious cause of death and Hermione was pretty certain that tests would reveal Michael was also poisoned. Eventually, Hermione's attention focused on Michael's privates and the substance coating his penis. Leaning over, she got a whiff of pineapples as she neared his erection.

"What are you doing?" Draco asked, spotting Hermione sniffing at Michael's crotch.

"It smells like pineapple," Hermione replied. "Come and have a sniff."

"No thanks," Draco answered with a curl of his nose. "That's an offer I'll pass on."

"Me too," Harry said.

"I think his penis is coated in some sort of body paint," Hermione said, grabbing a swab and running it down the length of his manhood.

"Is that what killed him?" Harry asked. "Is the poison in the body paint?"

"I'll have to test it, but it's my best guess at the minute," Hermione answered.

"So what, the killer covered his bits in body paint and waited for it to kill him?" Draco asked.

"It could explain the blindfold," Hermione said. "She would have to wear gloves to apply the paint, and it would look suspicious if she pulled on gloves. With the blindfold Michael wouldn't have been able to see the gloves she was wearing."

"What about the handcuffs?" Harry asked. "Were they to stop him trying to get the paint off?"

"I don't know, they may just have been a bit of added fun," Hermione shrugged, her focus still on Michael's crotch.

"If the poison was in the paint, how long would it have taken him to die?" Harry asked.

"Until I run tests I don't know for sure. I need to know how strong the poison was in the paint," Hermione answered. "But Michael seems pretty well endowed, she would need a lot of paint to fully cover him like she's done. That might increase how quickly he died."

"Poor bloke, dying quicker because he's got a big one," Harry muttered, trying to contain his laughter. Even though the situation was tragic, seeing the lighter side of things helped keep them sane.

"Thank god she hasn't gotten her hands on me, I would have been gone in an instant," Draco joked, causing Harry to let out a snort of laughter.

"I don't know, I don't think you've got as much to offer as Michael," Hermione said, glancing up at Draco with a mischievous glint in her eye.

"I'm loads bigger than him," Draco protested. "Measure him, I'm sure I'll outdo him by a few inches."

"I am not going to measure a dead man's penis," Hermione replied haughtily as she straightened up. "We'll get him back to the lab and I'll have the initial results by tonight."

"Thanks Hermione," Harry said, smiling at his friend. "Come on Draco, let's go and talk to the staff."

"Do you really think he's bigger?" Draco whispered to Hermione as he passed by her.

"Your egos definitely bigger," Hermione retorted. "Along with another appendage," She added quietly.

Draco chuckled quietly at Hermione's confession, and with a smug smile on his face he headed off to join Harry while Hermione set about getting Michael back to the Ministry. It looked like any chance of a Sunday off had disappeared, now they'd be stuck working all weekend.


	11. Chapter 11

A tired Harry finally arrived home, long after his children's bedtime. With his job he couldn't guarantee having weekends off, but he did always try and at least see his kids on a weekend. However, his hopeful early finish had disappeared when they'd found Michael. After the discovery of the body, he and Draco had spent the afternoon and evening speaking to Michael's friends and family. Ron had immediately set about digging into his past, while Hermione had begun the autopsy and quickly confirmed that Michael was also poisoned.

"You look like you've had a rough day," Ginny Potter remarked as her husband slowly entered the front room.

"I have," Harry sighed, collapsing onto the nearby sofa. "I'm sorry I couldn't get home earlier. How are the boys?"

"They're fine," Ginny replied. "George and Angelina called round. George took Teddy and little Fred to a quidditch match, while Ange and I stayed here with the little ones. Roxy held a tea party for her, James and Albus."

"I bet the boys loved that," Harry chuckled.

"James wasn't so keen, he kept throwing his cup away," Ginny said with a rueful smile. "Luckily giving him cake made him behave somewhat."

"I'm just sorry I couldn't get home sooner," Harry said. "We had another one today."

"Oh no," Ginny gasped, her hand covering her mouth in shock. "Was he from your year at school?"

"Yeah." Harry took a deep breath, before he broke the news of who the latest victim was. It wasn't until after they returned to the Ministry that it occurred to him that Ginny had briefly dated Michael in Hogwarts. "It was Michael Corner."

Ginny gasped again and tears started to fill her eyes. She no longer had feelings for Michael, but there had been a time when they were close, and it was an almighty shock to find out he was dead. Harry moved over to where his wife was sitting and pulled her into his arms.

"This is so scary, Harry," Ginny whispered. "All these people went to school with you and Ron. What if one of you are next?"

"Ron and I aren't stupid enough to go back to a hotel with a stranger," Harry said. "I'm not interested in anyone else but you, and even though Ron's single, he's not an idiot. We won't become victims."

"I hope not," Ginny muttered. Wiping at her eyes, she sat up and vowed not to worry about something that was never going to happen. "Have you ate?" She asked her husband. "I've got a chicken pie for you in the oven."

"That sounds great," Harry said, smiling at his wife. "We did grab food, but that was hours ago. I could do with a nice meal, before I head to bed and collapse. I'm so tired, and I'll have to go into work tomorrow as well."

"Why don't you go and have a quick shower while I fix your pie," Ginny suggested as she got to her feet. "When you come back, you can eat then we can go to bed."

Harry stood up and gave Ginny a quick kiss, before heading off for a shower. Heading into the kitchen, Ginny decided not to mention the free samples of body paint that had arrived that afternoon. She had been hoping her and Harry could try them, but he clearly wasn't in the mood right now. Maybe once he'd solved the case he would feel more like indulging in a bit of fun. After all, they had been talking about adding to their family.

* * *

Draco packed up and was ready to leave the office just after Harry had left for home. Ron was still working, but when Draco asked if the redhead needed any help, he said he was nearly finished and would be heading home shortly. On impulse, when Draco got into the lift he pressed the button that would take him to the forensic lab. He had no idea if Hermione was still working, but if she was he was going to offer to make sure she got home safely. As luck would have it, Hermione was just pulling on her jacket when Draco entered her office.

"I'm off home, do you want something?" Hermione asked, hoping she wouldn't have to stay any longer.

"I was just coming to check on you," Draco replied. "I thought I could walk you home."

"Did you now," Hermione chuckled knowingly. "And I suppose you were hoping for an invite inside as well."

"I wouldn't say no," Draco replied with a smile. "After the week I've had, I could do with a friendly face around."

Hermione instantly sobered as she remembered the losses Draco had suffered over the last few days. With his flirtation and ability to push his emotions to one side, she'd almost forgotten he was still grieving. However, she could now see the sadness in his expressive grey eyes.

"You can take me home," Hermione said to the blond. "You can even come in for a drink, but there will be no sex."

"What's wrong with sex?" Draco asked as they made their way to the lift. "You seemed to enjoy it all the other times."

"It's not about enjoyment," Hermione retorted as they stepped into the lift.

"If it's not about enjoyment, then you're not doing it right," Draco shot back. "Sex is all about enjoyment. And I know for a fact you enjoyed yourself over the weekend, and on Wednesday night."

Hermione turned her head and glared at the blond wizard standing beside her. "I've warned you Draco, don't push it. You can come and have a drink as a friend, but if you're expecting more, you'll end up disappointed."

"As I said before, friends will do for now," Draco replied with a shrug.

Choosing not to carry on the argument, Hermione led the way from the lifts over towards the fires. After telling Draco she would have to go through first and alter her settings on the floo, Hermione stepped into the emerald green flames and disappeared. After giving Hermione the five minutes she asked for, Draco followed her through the floo network.

"Tea, coffee, or something stronger?" Hermione asked as Draco stepped into her front room.

A quick glance at Hermione showed she'd already removed her jacket and slipped off her heels. Draco let his eyes linger on Hermione's legs, before he turned his attention back to her face and requested something stronger than tea or coffee. While Hermione headed off to grab two drinks, Draco removed his jacket and threw it over a nearby chair. He then collapsed onto the sofa and ran his hands down his face in an attempt to stay alert. After the week he'd had he was knackered, but he would rather spend an hour or so with Hermione than go back to an empty penthouse and dwell on things.

When Hermione came back into the front room, she handed Draco a glass of firewhisky and sat down next to him with her own glass of rose wine. Draco took an appreciative gulp of his drink, before relaxing against the back of Hermione's sofa.

"You look tired," Hermione remarked.

"I haven't been sleeping great," Draco answered. "Having a serial killer on the loose tends to disrupt my sleep patterns."

"Have you dealt with a serial killer before?" Hermione asked. She knew the only cases Harry had dealt with that held numerous victims murdered by the same person were all involving Death Eaters.

"Once," Draco replied. "A couple of years ago we had someone killing blonde witches in France. The wizard responsible had suffered a mental breakdown and was killing blonde women as they reminded him of his wife who'd left him a few years previously."

"How did you catch him?"

"He got sloppy. Initially he was pretty good at making sure there was no forensic evidence, but he was disturbed at one of the crime scenes and left traces of blood behind. The victim also wasn't quite dead when we got to her and she gave us a brief description before she died. He struck again a few days later, but being disturbed had rattled him and he made a lot of errors. He was spotted snatching the witch and we managed to get to her before he killed her. He put up a fight, but we captured him and put an end to his crimes."

"Wow, that sounds pretty terrible," Hermione said softly.

"It was," Draco confirmed with a soft sigh. "It was the hardest case I've ever had to deal with. Until now."

"We'll catch her, Draco," Hermione said, taking hold of the blond's hand. "She's not going to get away with this."

"I know, I just wish things were moving faster," Draco said. "I wish we had some clues."

"Maybe we will after this one," Hermione said. "I've began analysing the body paint we found on Michael. I'm hoping we can trace where the paint was bought."

"A lot of places make body paint," Draco pointed out. "There's a lot of different brands out there."

"You sound like an expert," Hermione said, raising a questioning eyebrow at the blond wizard.

"I've had a few experiences," Draco replied with a smirk. "I don't suppose you're exactly innocent yourself. You certainly didn't act innocent last weekend."

"You're not going to let that drop, are you?" Hermione questioned as she took a large drink of her wine.

"No, I'm not going to suddenly forget about the best sex of my life," Draco retorted.

"What about your experiences with body paint? Surely they top last weekend."

"No, they don't," Draco replied with a shake of the head. "Although you and body paint could quite possibly topple last weekend."

Despite herself, Hermione couldn't help but laugh. "You're incorrigible," She scolded. "I've told you, nothing is going to happen between us."

"You told me that on Monday morning, but you were in my bed on Wednesday night," Draco argued.

"That was different," Hermione said quietly. "Things just sort of escalated when I was comforting you."

"So I was a pity shag," Draco snorted. "Nice."

"It wasn't a pity shag," Hermione protested. "I like you Draco, and if things were different then we might have had something together. But we work together so a relationship is off the cards."

"Why?" Draco asked, determined to get a proper answer this time around. "What is the problem with us working together? Surely you don't care that much about office gossip."

"Maybe I do," Hermione replied. "Maybe I'm sick of being talked about, and I just don't want to give my detractors more ammunition to use against me."

"What detractors?" Draco questioned with a frown. "What am I missing, Hermione?"

"It's nothing," Hermione answered quietly.

"Clearly it's not nothing," Draco said, placing his hand under Hermione's chin and forcing her to look at him. "Something has happened to make you unwilling to even give us a try, and I want to know what. Don't I deserve an explanation as to why you won't even give us a chance?"

"I guess so," Hermione said. Pulling her head out of Draco's grasp she stood up and walked over to the large window that dominated her front room. After looking out at the dark night sky for a couple of minutes, she turned back around to face Draco. "The simple answer is, I'm a coward. I don't want to be the subject of yet more gossip around the Ministry."

"What gossip have you been the subject of before?" Draco asked.

"I've been the subject of gossip since the moment I started," Hermione replied. "Right from the beginning, there's being whispers about how I only got the job because of my connections with the Minister. I passed all my medical and forensic training at an accelerated rate, and I was heavily involved in the restructuring of the Law and Forensic division. A lot of people don't like how much muggle technology and ideas are imbedded in the forensic side of the job. When I became the pathologist, I was still quite young and there was a lot of talk that I got the job because of my friendship with Kingsley, and I wasn't qualified for the position. A lot of people still think that. After all, I'm head of my department while Harry is still just a field Auror. A lot of the Ministry think Harry should be higher up the career ladder, and I should be lower."

"First of all, that's all a pile of crap," Draco said forcefully. "Anyone who's worked with you, or even knows you for that matter, knows you're qualified for your job. And more importantly, you deserve it. I can tell you now, you're a hell of a lot better than any of the forensic people I worked with in France."

Hermione smiled gratefully at Draco, it always helped when someone reaffirmed she deserved her job. "Thanks, but I think you might be slightly biased since you want to get me back into bed."

"I'm not that biased," Draco replied. "Besides, I'm sure Potter and Weasley will say the exact same thing and they don't want to get you into bed. You're brilliant at your job, Hermione, and don't you let anyone tell you otherwise. Although, I have to admit I'm shocked you let this bother you. I thought you had a tougher skin than that."

"It never used to bother me," Hermione confessed as she made her way back to sit down next to Draco. "But when you keep hearing people talking about you, it begins to get to you. After all these years, people still talk and I still get affected by it."

"But how does that, prevent you from dating a colleague?" Draco asked. "If people are going to talk, does it matter what they say about you? Dating me isn't going to make people think you're sleeping your way to the top, you're already there. And even if you weren't, I'm not in a position to advance your career."

"People will still talk," Hermione said. "I'm sorry Draco, but I don't want to give them anything else to use against me. I'm sick and tired about being talking about, and I'm not prepared to fan the flames of gossip by dating a colleague."

"I can't say I understand, but I'll try my best to back off," Draco said as he wearily got to his feet. "Not that I can guarantee, I won't flirt with you. I'm also not giving up hope that you'll come round and see sense, but I'll try not to push it."

Bending over, he gave Hermione a brief kiss on the cheek before grabbing his jacket and flooing home. At home, he threw his jacket onto a chair and yanked off his shoes. Draco still suspected there was more to Hermione's reluctance to get involved with him, but for the time being he was too tired to care.

Gathering up his mail, which the owls left in a secure window box attached to the back window, he threw it onto the desk in his study before heading off to bed. After a quick shower he climbed into bed and drifted off to sleep, never realising that in the next room sat the evidence that could potentially lead them to the killer.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N - Thanks for the continuing great reviews for this story. It's great to hear people's theories, and I'm pleased so many people are caught up with the mystery of it all. I also know at the minute Hermione is being rather frustrating, but as a few people picked up, there's still more that she's not telling Draco. But for now, I hope people enjoy the latest chapter.**

* * *

Sunday found the team all at the Ministry, working on their big case. Harry, Ron and Draco were set up in the conference room, while Hermione was in her lab. After spending the entire morning going over witness statements and trying to find a more solid connection between the victims other than the fact they all went to Hogwarts, it was decided that someone should go and check if Hermione had anything useful for them. Draco quickly volunteered to go and speak to the witch, and Harry and Ron let him go as they shared a knowing smile.

Arriving on Hermione's floor, Draco checked her office. Finding it empty he moved onto the pathology lab, which was where he found the former Gryffindor. Hermione was just finishing up with Michael, who was laid out on the slab in front of her. Draco wasn't thrilled to be talking over a corpse, but it was a hazard of the job when you wanted to talk to the pathologist.

"Do you have anything for us?" Draco asked.

"Not from Michael," Hermione replied. "It's the same story as the others. He died within half an hour of having sex."

"He'd had sex as well?" Draco asked. They hadn't been sure if he'd actually had intercourse with his killer because of the body paint.

"Yep," Hermione replied with a nod. "The body paint was applied afterwards. Most likely with the promise of more sex."

"So she's sleeping with them before killing them," Draco mused. "Why the hell would she do that? If she's going to kill them, why have sex with them first?"

"I can't answer that one," Hermione said. "Maybe you could consult a psychologist or a criminal profiler. Personally, I don't understand why she would sleep with her victims before killing them. It's not as if the sex was necessary to kill them. She could have scratched Ernie without sleeping with him, and with Greg and Michael she could have used the massage oil and body paint without sleeping with them."

"She's clearly got her reasons," Draco said. "I just wish we knew what they were. I think I'll speak to Harry about bringing someone in who might be able to give us some insight into her motives."

"I might not be able to provide an insight into the killer's motives, but I might be able to help in other ways," Hermione said. "I'm nearly finished here, but I have a few things to look at in the forensic lab."

"I'll wait," Draco said, leaning back against an empty table.

As she finished up her examination, Hermione was extremely conscious of Draco watching her. She still wasn't sure what the future held for them, but she doubted it was attractive to be examining a dead body. Luckily wizarding autopsies weren't anywhere near as invasive as muggle ones, but it was hardly a desirable job. What man would be interested in her knowing she'd had her hands all over dead bodies?

Trying to ignore her self-consciousness, Hermione quickly finished up with Michael. Returning his body to the secure storage facility, she then thoroughly disinfected her hands before she and Draco moved through to the forensics lab. On the back bench sat a cauldron bubbling over a low heat, while on the main bench sat four small cauldrons in a row.

"So what have we got here?" Draco asked, his attention immediately focused on the cauldron that had the flames underneath it.

"That is the antidote," Hermione replied. "One of the guys from the Potions department is working on it. It should be ready tomorrow morning."

"Will it work?" Draco asked, peering into the cauldron.

"You know what antidotes are like," Hermione answered with a shrug. "You never know for sure until they're tested. I'll let you know tomorrow when we test it. But for now, I'm going to have a look at the four different poisons."

Hermione led Draco over to where the four small cauldrons were sitting. She explained that in each cauldron she'd put a sample of the poison she'd found in each victim's system. Together, the pair set about analysing the tests Hermione had set up that morning.

"So what do you think?" Draco asked. He'd drawn his own conclusions over what they'd discovered, but Hermione was the expert not him.

"Well I think it's clear that the killer is using one main batch of poison," Hermione began. "The mix is exactly the same in each sample, the only difference is the concentration."

"Whoever is doing this, does have some sort of knowledge on the subject," Draco said. "They're mixing the perfect amount of potion for their purposes."

"Exactly," Hermione agreed. "The lipstick had the highest concentration of the poison, because it was used on the smallest area of the body. The body paint then had a higher concentration than the massage oil and the poison on the nails was the lowest concentration because it was entering the bloodstream directly."

"Although even as the lowest concentration, it's still pretty high," Draco mused. "She's made sure that all her victims die quickly. She could have dragged this out and made them suffer."

"Maybe she didn't want to risk anyone getting an antidote," Hermione suggested. "The quicker the death the less time they would have to seek help. A long lingering death, might not be what she wanted to achieve."

Draco nodded in agreement. "What about the body paint? Do you have any leads there? Weren't you going to try and identify the brand?"

"I've got a sample undergoing analysis," Hermione replied. "It'll be done in a couple of hours, and then I should be able to tell you the brand of body paint."

"Then we'll have the job of tracking it down," Draco muttered. "Let's hope it's a rare brand she's used."

"I wouldn't be holding my breath if I were you," Hermione said with a small smile. "She's been quite clever so far, I doubt she'll make tracking down the body paint easy."

"Could you have done this with the massage oil?" Draco asked. "Maybe that could help us if we could connect the purchase of the two items. And what about the lipstick?"

"The massage oil is home made," Hermione replied. "I did think about trying to narrow down the make, but when I looked at the sample in greater detail I discovered it was home made. And as for the lipstick, I haven't been able to find the brand yet. It's not one of the major brands, it looks as though it's made for a small cosmetics firm, although again it could be home made."

"Could she be involved in some sort of cosmetic business?" Draco questioned. "If she's made her own massage oil, and potentially lipstick, could that be something she's involved with professionally."

"It's definitely worth looking into," Hermione said. "I'll keep looking at the lipstick and see if I can find you anything."

"Thanks," Draco said, giving Hermione a small smile. "I guess I better be getting back. Maybe we could have a drink tonight."

"I'd like that," Hermione replied as the couple exited the forensic lab and made their way towards Hermione's office.

Just as they reached Hermione's office, the lift doors opened up and Harry's head poked out of the small box. Just one glance at him, told Hermione and Draco they had another victim. Sighing, Hermione summoned her medical bag as she and Draco entered the lift with Harry.

"What do we have this time?" Draco questioned.

"Susan Bones," Harry replied. "I don't know if she's another victim of our killer, but we're the only Aurors here."

"Do you know what happened?" Hermione asked.

"Susan's friend got in touch," Harry answered. "They were getting ready to go out and suddenly Susan collapsed."

"She could have been poisoned," Draco said as they alighted the lift in the atrium. "She might have a poisoned lipstick like Pansy."

"Let's get there before we start speculating," Hermione cautioned.

Making their way to the fireplaces, Harry gave the address of Susan's flat and the trio headed off to deal with their newest death. When they arrived, they found a M.L.E officer comforting a distraught young woman in the small front room, while a second officer stood in a doorway that led to another room.

"You two go and take a look at Susan," Harry said quietly. "I'll speak to her friend."

While Harry gently sat down on the sofa next to Susan's friend, Hermione and Draco made their way into the bedroom. Susan was lying on her bedroom floor, and there was no sign of any obvious cause of death. Snapping on her gloves, Hermione got down on the floor to examine her body while Draco began to look around the room.

"I can see plenty of lipsticks and other cosmetics, but none than look like the lipstick Pansy had," Draco said, as he looked at Susan's dressing table.

"Until I get her back to the lab I can't say for certain if she's been poisoned, but I can't see any obvious trauma on her body," Hermione said. "Bag up all her cosmetics, just in case."

Draco set about bagging up all the cosmetics on the dressing table, before he scoured the floor for any he was missing. Getting down on his hands and knees, he spotted a tube underneath the bed. Pulling it out, he held it up for Hermione to see.

"It doesn't look like the one Pansy had," Hermione said, taking the lipstick tube from Draco. Twisting the tube so the lipstick popped up, she held it out towards Susan's lips. "But it does look very similar to the colour she's wearing."

"I'll bag it up so you can test it," Draco said, taking the lipstick back off Hermione and dropping it into a clear bag. "I'll also make sure Potter asks her friend about the lipstick. Maybe she'll know more than Theo did."

"I should have something for you by the end of the day," Hermione said. "Since I know what I'm looking for the toxicology tests are a lot quicker."

Leaving Hermione to deal with her body, Draco made his way back to the front room. When he spotted his partner, Harry got up and made his way over to Draco.

"I think it may be the same thing," Harry said quietly. "According to Jessica, Susan had just put on her lipstick when she collapsed. Apparently she stopped breathing almost immediately."

"The concentration of poison in the lipstick we found in Pansy's house was really high, if this was the same it's no wonder she died so quickly," Draco said. "I've got a lipstick that we think might be the poisoned one, I want to show it to Susan's friend."

Leading the way back over to the sofa, Harry introduced Draco to Jessica Blake, Susan's friend. Draco offered Jessica his condolences, before he showed her the bag which held the lipstick.

"Is this the lipstick Susan had just put on?"

Jessica gently fingered the bag as she wiped away her tears. "Yes, that's the one," She whispered. "I chose it for her and told her to wear it because it was a bright colour. I was trying to get her out of her depression. She's been inconsolable since her lover died at the beginning of the week."

"We know how upset she was," Harry said kindly. "We spoke to her after Ernie's death."

"Do you know where Susan got the lipstick from?" Draco asked.

"She received it through the mail," Jessica replied. "It was a free sample of a new product. She told me when I picked it out for her."

Harry and Draco exchanged a look at the news the lipstick was a free sample. If Susan got her lipstick through the post then it was likely that Pansy had done so as well. They now had a break through, or at least they had a solid lead to follow.

"Why would Susan receive a free sample of lipstick?" Harry questioned, thinking out loud. "She was a book editor wasn't she? It can't have had anything to do with her job."

"I don't know, she just said it was free sample," Jessica answered. "This is all my fault, I never should have forced her to get ready to go out."

"It's not your fault Miss Blake," Harry said soothingly. "This was a tragic incident waiting to happen. Susan would have worn the lipstick at one time or another, but at least this way you've been able to help us."

"Are you saying the lipstick killed her?" Jessica asked with a gasp.

"It's a possibility," Draco replied.

Leaving Harry to finish up with the witness, Draco headed back to the bedroom to see if Hermione had gone back to the Ministry. When he entered the bedroom he found that Susan's body had gone, but Hermione was just packing up to leave.

"I'll let you know the second I have an official cause of death," Hermione said.

"Good," Draco replied. "Although we've finally got a breakthrough. Susan received the lipstick through the post as a free sample. We're guessing Pansy got the same free sample. I'm going to sweep the entire flat to see if I can find the envelope it came in."

Hermione frowned at the revelation that Susan had received a free sample of lipstick. There was something telling her that this information was important, but she couldn't think what it was. Shaking her head, she turned to exit the room when suddenly a memory struck her. Hermione froze as she vividly recalled opening a package earlier that week that contained a lipstick.

"What's wrong?" Draco questioned, moving so he was standing in front of a pale Hermione.

"The lipstick," Hermione whispered, her eyes wide with fear as she looked up at Draco. "I received a free sample of lipstick earlier in the week."

Draco and Hermione looked at each other in horror as they contemplated what it could possibly mean. It meant Hermione could potentially be a target, she could very well have ended up a victim of their killer.


	13. Chapter 13

Draco immediately shared Hermione's news with Harry and the two Aurors insisted on accompanying Hermione back to her office as she tried to find the lipstick. Hermione was still in shock when they arrived back at the Ministry, but she had the presence of mind to snap on a pair of gloves and grab an evidence bag before she pulled open her desk drawer. The drawer Hermione had thrown the lipstick in was the only slightly messy one, so it took her a few minutes to locate the lipstick.

"Do you have the envelope it came in?" Harry asked as Hermione bagged the lipstick and put it to one side for testing.

Hermione briefly closed her eyes as she tried to think about what she'd done with the envelope. It wasn't in the drawer with the lipstick, but she also couldn't remember throwing it away. Chances were she'd left it on her desk and something had ended up on top of it. Normally Hermione's desk was spotless, but with such a big case on her hands, certain things had been neglected and her desk was a bit of a tip.

"It could be on my desk somewhere," Hermione replied. "I don't remember throwing it away."

"Might the cleaners have thrown it away?" Harry questioned.

"They know not to touch my desk," Hermione replied with a shake of her head. "Unless I've thrown it away and can't remember, it's on here somewhere."

"Do you want one of us to help you look for it?" Draco asked.

"No, you two go and do your jobs," Hermione said firmly. "I'll look for it after I've ran the tests on Susan and the two lipsticks. I'll let you know what I find when I come up and speak to you in a few hours."

Harry nodded, but instead of turning to leave he made his way over to Hermione and pulled her into his arms. "Just let us know if you need to leave," He said quietly. "We'll understand if you need time to yourself after the shock you've just received."

"I'll be fine," Hermione answered, giving Harry a small smile and a peck on the cheek. "But thank you for worrying."

"Of course I'm going to worry, you're my best friend and you've become a target of a killer," Harry replied.

"If we're right about the killer targeting people from our year, you two and Ron could also be targets," Hermione pointed out.

"Yeah, but she's targeting men by luring them into bed," Harry pointed out. "She's obviously targeting women by sending out free samples. For all we know she sent more than one lipstick, she could send more in the future."

"At least I'm forewarned," Hermione said. "I won't be using any free products I'm sent through the post. Don't worry Harry, I'm fine. Leave me to get on with my job, and you two go and do your jobs. I'm perfectly safe in the Ministry."

Conceding that they couldn't watch over Hermione indefinitely, Draco and Harry left her alone to get on with her work while they headed to their floor to get on with their own work. They needed to inform Susan's family of her death, as well as speaking to Theo and seeing if he remembered Pansy receiving any free samples. They also had to fill Ron in on their newest developments, specifically the ones regarding Hermione.

"Is she okay?" Ron demanded the second he was brought up to date.

"She's burying herself in her work," Harry told his best friend. "I think she's really shaken, but she's not letting herself think about what's happened."

"I'm sure it'll hit her later," Draco said quietly. He'd seen the horror in her eyes when she first realised she'd received a lipstick, but he'd also seen how quickly she buried it and insisted things carry on as normal.

"How close did she come to using the lipstick?" Ron asked.

"She didn't say," Harry answered. "But we can ask her later. She'll be heading up once she has the preliminary results on Susan and the lipstick."

"But until then, we need to carry on with our jobs," Draco said. He would like nothing more than to be comforting Hermione, but he knew now wasn't the time for that. "I think we can safely say the targets are people in our year at school, and we need to discuss warning them of the danger."

"I'll get a complete list of everyone we went to school with and their addresses," Ron said. "I think warning them in person is the best bet. We can get help from a handful of M.L.E officers."

"That's a great plan Ron," Harry said with a nod. "While you're doing that, Malfoy and I will inform Susan's parents. If we have time we can also talk to Theo, but that could wait until tomorrow."

With plans set the three Aurors headed off to get on with their jobs as they waited for the latest results from Hermione's lab.

* * *

"Hermione, are you okay?" Ron questioned, pulling his best friend into a hug the second she walked into the conference room.

"I'm fine," Hermione replied. "I'm just a bit shaken."

"I don't blame you," Ron remarked. "It must be so scary knowing someone sent you something that could have killed you."

"Thanks for spelling that out to me, Ron," Hermione chuckled humourlessly as she rolled her eyes at the redhead.

"Sorry," Ron winced. "I didn't mean to be insensitive."

"It's okay," Hermione said. "So where are Harry and Draco?"

"We're here," Harry said as he and Draco entered the conference room. "We've been speaking to Susan's parents. Needless to say, they were devastated."

"Did you get a chance to talk to Theo?" Ron asked as everyone took their seats.

"We tried calling round to his house, but he wasn't there," Draco answered. "He might be with his parents. In his place, I'm not sure I'd want to stay at the house. We'll talk to him tomorrow. I doubt he'll have anything to say that will help us too much. We're fairly sure Pansy got the lipstick from a free sample, Theo will either confirm that or more than likely he'll not have a clue about Pansy's mail."

"Speaking of mail, did you find the envelope, Hermione?" Harry asked.

"I found what could possibly be the envelope," Hermione said, showing the trio of Aurors an evidence bag containing a brown envelope. The only words written on the envelope were Hermione's name. "I've tested it for trace of the lipstick, but couldn't find anything. I also couldn't find any other fingerprints on it other than mine."

"That's certainly suspicious," Ron said. "There should be other fingerprints on the envelope."

"There should be, but there isn't," Hermione said. "That's why I'm fairly sure it's the envelope that contained the lipstick."

"When did you get the package?" Harry asked, after agreeing that no fingerprints was suspicious.

"I don't know," Hermione admitted. "I opened it on Tuesday evening, but it could have been on my desk for days."

"Why does your post come to the Ministry?" Draco asked with a frown. He'd arranged a spell to be activated that meant his post was sent directly to his flat, meaning he wouldn't be disturbed by random owls during the day.

"It's where I spend the most time," Hermione answered with a shrug. "At home the mail just piles up, but I usually get to it quicker at work. However, between events on Monday and the fact I wasn't working last weekend, the package could have been there since the end of last week."

"How close did you come to using the lipstick?" Ron asked quietly.

"Too close." Hermione shivered as she remembered just how close she'd come to trying the lipstick. "I was just about to try it when Draco arrived and distracted me. A few seconds later and it would have been too late."

A sombre silence feel over the room as all three men contemplated just what would have happened if Draco hadn't chosen that time to turn up at Hermione's office.

"I'm assuming this means the lipstick was definitely poisoned," Harry said quietly, suddenly remembering Hermione had yet to confirm anything from her test results.

"It was," Hermione confirmed, throwing Harry a thankful look for turning the subject away from her near miss. "As was Susan's lipstick. I've started tests and I'll know the results tomorrow, but I'm guessing the concentration of the poison will be the same in all three lipsticks."

"Malfoy was telling us about the theory the pair of you were working on that the killer has experience in the cosmetic field," Harry said to Hermione.

"Actually, now we have three lipsticks I'm even more convinced we're on the right track," Hermione said. "I'm running comparisons on the three lipsticks, but I'm confident there'll be some similarities in all three. I also compared all three tubes, and while they all come in different packaging, I did find one connection."

Hermione slid a picture across the table for the three men to see. The picture was the bottom of the three lipstick tubes. On each tube was the name of the colour in the tube, each name was printed onto a small sticker but they were all written in the same font.

"What are we looking at?" Harry questioned.

"The writing on the bottom of all three are the same," Ron answered, immediately spotting the connection Hermione had found.

"Isn't the writing on all lipsticks the same?" Harry asked with a shrug.

"No." Hermione reached into her bag and pulled out two lipsticks that she handed to Harry.

Harry looked at the two lipsticks and compared their bottoms. Like the pictures, they had the colour written on a small sticker. But unlike the picture, the writing on each sticker was slightly different. Each lipstick had its own individual style.

"I see what you mean," Harry said, handing the lipsticks back to Hermione. "They're either all made together, or she's been clever enough to get brands that all look alike."

"I would still plump for the idea she's made everything herself," Hermione said.

"Since we've decided the killer is targeting people from our year at Hogwarts, could the killer themselves be from our year?" Ron mused. "Should I also be looking into what each witch does for a living?"

"That's definitely worth looking into," Draco said with an approving nod.

"What else are you also looking into?" Hermione asked.

"I've started compiling a list of people we went to school with," Ron explained. "We need to start warning people about this killer. I know we spoke to the press and released a statement, but it's time we spoke to people face to face."

"It'll take days for the three of you to speak to people face to face," Hermione said.

"I'm going to speak to Kingsley tomorrow and arrange for some M.L.E officers to be made available," Harry said. "Ron's going to oversee the warnings while Malfoy and I continue on with the rest of the investigation."

"You know, I think you three make a good team," Hermione said with a smile. "I'm sure between you, you'll catch the killer."

"Don't forget about your input," Draco said. "We couldn't have done this without you either. The four of us have worked well together."

"Yes we have," Harry agreed. "But I think it's time for the four of us to call it a day. I've been working all weekend, and I would like to see my kids before they went to sleep tonight."

"Yeah, I think we could all do with a few hours relaxation," Ron said. "Do you fancy coming back to mine for dinner, Hermione?"

"With your cooking, I don't think so," Hermione laughed. "It's alright Ron, I'm fine. I just want to go home, have something to eat and curl up in bed."

"Well you know where we are if you need us," Harry said. "Ginny wouldn't mind if you wanted to come and stay with us for a while."

"Honestly, I'm fine," Hermione insisted as she stood up. "I'm just going to grab my jacket, then I'm off home. I'll see you all tomorrow."

Harry, Ron and Draco all watched Hermione exit the conference room, not one of them believing her protests that she was fine. However Harry and Ron knew better than to push Hermione, so they quickly packed up and headed home. Draco also packed up to head home, but he was a few minutes later leaving the Auror Department. When he arrived in the atrium, he found no sign of Harry and Ron, but he did find Hermione standing beside the fires.

"Hey, are you okay?" He asked. "I thought you were going home."

"I said that because I didn't want Harry and Ron to worry," Hermione admitted with a sigh. "But I don't want to go home alone, Draco. I know I said I was fine, but the truth is I'm scared. I could very easily have ended up being a victim in this case, and that terrifies me. I thought the danger in my life was over."

"Come on, you're coming back with me," Draco said, wrapping his arm around Hermione and pulling her into his side. "And you don't have to be worried, I won't let anything happen to you. You're safe with me."


	14. Chapter 14

Snuggled up on Draco's sofa, Hermione felt completely at home and for the first time since discovering she'd received a poisoned lipstick she wasn't fretting about the package. She felt completely safe with Draco and more importantly she was ready to explore a potential relationship with the blond Auror. She'd been thinking all afternoon and finally decided that she was being ridiculous to deny what she felt for Draco. She could now admit that she wasn't reluctant to get involved with him because she was worried about gossip, there was another reason and she knew it was time to put the past behind her and move on. She could have easily died, and it had brought her to her senses and made her realise she wasn't living her life to the full by denying her feelings.

Even though Hermione had decided to act on her feelings for Draco, so far he hadn't treated her as anything other than a friend. He'd made them some food, then they'd settled in the front room with a bottle of wine. They'd spoken about all sorts of things in the couple of hours since they'd returned to Draco's penthouse, but there'd been no hint of romance. Draco hadn't even flirted with her, which was unusual as he flirted with her all the time. However, she was very aware the flirting had stopped since they discovered she'd received a lipstick.

"How are you feeling, now?" Draco asked.

"I'm okay I guess," Hermione replied with a sigh.

"If you still don't want to be alone tonight, you can stay here. I've got a spare room," Draco offered.

"Thanks," Hermione said quietly, her heart plummeting at Draco's offer of the spare room.

"Or you could stay in my room," Draco amended with a smirk.

Hermione couldn't help but smile widely at Draco's revised offer. "I like the sound of that. Your room sounds much more appealing than the spare room."

"It does have the added advantage of me being in the room," Draco remarked.

"You're such a cocky git," Hermione chuckled.

"I'm just telling the truth," Draco replied with a casual shrug of his shoulders. "We both know there's a reason you came back to mine rather than going with Weasley. If all you wanted was friendship, you would have gone home with either Potter or Weasley."

"Maybe I just wanted a decent meal," Hermione argued in a teasing manner.

"And I was the only place you could get one?" Draco raised an eyebrow at the brunette witch.

"Ron is an abysmal cook, and Harry isn't much better," Hermione replied. "Ginny can cook a bit, but she mainly relies on Molly helping her out. But you reckoned you could cook so I thought I'd try you out."

"And did I live up to expectations?" Draco asked.

"You were okay," Hermione answered.

"Just okay?" Draco queried, sliding closer to Hermione on the sofa. "I should hope I was more than okay."

"Why do I get the impression we're no longer talking about your cooking skills," Hermione muttered as the sexual tension in the room sky-rocketed.

"We both know my other skills are far more than okay," Draco retorted with a cocky grin. "In other departments, I'm highly skilled."

"You'll have to show me these skills," Hermione said flirtatiously.

"I'm always up for reminding you just how hot we are together," Draco answered as he closed the small gap between their faces and connected their lips.

Hermione eagerly kissed Draco back and their flirtatious banter was forgotten as they kissed. Falling back on the sofa, Hermione ended up half underneath Draco as they couldn't get enough of each other. Finally breaking the kiss, Draco turned his attention to Hermione's neck. Hermione tilted her head to the side to allow Draco better access as she ran his fingers through his soft hair.

"Let's move this to the bedroom," Draco whispered against her neck.

Hermione nodded in agreement as Draco stood up and gently pulled her to her feet. Keeping hold of her hand, he led her to his bedroom where he proceeded to slowly undress her. By the time Hermione was down to her underwear, her hands were tugging at Draco's clothes and soon they were falling to the floor alongside hers.

"You're so beautiful," Draco said quietly as he slipped Hermione's bra off and slid her knickers down her legs.

"You're rather gorgeous yourself," Hermione returned, sliding Draco's boxers down his legs.

Connecting their lips in a sensual kiss, the couple fell back on the bed together. Perfectly in sync they manoeuvred themselves into the middle of the bed and began to make love. Their movements were slow and steady, and there was an emotional connection in their activities that hadn't been present other times. They'd now had sex several times, but this time they both knew it was something special.

The couple's lovemaking continued for a good couple of hours, but finally the exhausted couple collapsed into bed. Draco covered them with the blankets, as Hermione lay contentedly in his arms.

"I hope you're not going to say this was another one off," He remarked, twisting a lock of her curly hair around his finger. He'd felt the difference in Hermione this time and he was hoping that she was ready to admit they could have something special if they gave themselves a chance to explore a relationship.

"It wasn't a one-off," Hermione reassured him. "At least I hope it wasn't. I want to see where this takes us."

"And what made you change your mind?" Draco questioned gently. He didn't want to push Hermione away, but he did want to know just what had changed her views on their relationship.

"Realising how close I came to dying," Hermione answered as she sat up and turned so she was sitting facing Draco. "I've spent all afternoon thinking about that lipstick I received. I was so close to using it, and if you hadn't turned up in my office when you did, I would have been dead. It just got me thinking, and I realised I was throwing away the possibility of true happiness by refusing to allow our relationship to grow. I don't want to live my life hiding from my feelings."

"And what about the gossips?" Draco asked. He personally didn't think the gossips would truly bother Hermione, but that was the excuse she'd given about not pursuing their relationship.

"I decided not to let gossips ruin my life," Hermione replied. "Sure people will gossip, but we can ignore it."

"I do believe I said that earlier in the week," Draco pointed out. "So either you've listened to what I've had to say, or the gossips were never the problem in the first place. Personally, I think it's the latter. There's another reason you've been reluctant to get involved with me, and it has nothing to do with gossips."

"You're right," Hermione admitted with a sigh as she pulled the blankets around her exposed body. "There is another reason I've been reluctant to get involved with you, but it's not something I've ever shared with anyone before."

"I don't want to push you, Hermione," Draco said softly. "You don't have to tell me anything you don't want to."

"I want to tell you, it's just not something I talk about," Hermione replied in a quiet whisper.

"How about I make us a cup of tea and we can talk properly," Draco suggested.

Hermione agreed to Draco's suggestion and the pair got out of bed. Draco pulled on his boxers, while Hermione slipped on Draco's shirt. While Draco went to make the tea, Hermione quickly made the bed and settled back in it. When Draco returned, he handed Hermione a cup of tea before settling down on his side of the bed.

"Have you ever been in love?" Hermione asked abruptly.

Draco was rather shocked by the question, but he assumed it had something to do with whatever Hermione was going to tell him. "No," He answered with a shake of his head. "I've had girlfriends and been in serious relationships, but I've never been in love. I take it you have."

"I have," Hermione replied in a wistful tone. "I genuinely thought I'd met the man I was going to spend the rest of my life with."

"And he broke your heart, hence the reason your reluctance to get involved emotionally," Draco concluded. It hadn't taken him long to realise that Hermione had no problem with physical intimacy, it was just emotional intimacy that was a problem for her.

"That's the quick version," Hermione said with a wry smile. "The longer version involves him using me and abandoning me once he'd had his fun."

"He lied to get you into his bed?" Draco asked.

"That's just the thing, he never lied," Hermione said. "He never actually told me he loved me, he just led me to believe it. He led me to believe we had a future, when all he wanted was a cheap thrill. I was stupid, and I let myself be played by him. I fell in love and got my heart broken, while he just moved on with his life when he was sick of me."

"When did all this happen?" Draco asked. He doubted any of this had happened at school because Hermione had been far too busy fighting alongside the Order in the war, but neither Harry nor Ron had given him any indication that Hermione had suffered a traumatic breakup, and the pair had been pretty open in their attempts to try and fix them up together.

"Back when I was doing my medical training," Hermione answered. "My very first week I met Kyle, and I was smitten. He was handsome, clever, funny and most importantly he wasn't intimidated by the fact I was smart."

"When you were doing your medical training, I was in Auror training with Potter and Weasley. I know it took us a while to become friendly, but they never mentioned you having a boyfriend," Draco said. "In fact, I saw you a few times during the time we were training and you never seemed to be involved with anyone."

"Harry and Ron didn't know about Kyle," Hermione said. "No-one did. The whole thing was a secret."

"Why?"

"Because Kyle was one of my advisors on the training programme," Hermione answered, watching Draco for his reaction. She half expected him to be disgusted at her for sleeping with a man that was effectively her teacher, but he just look surprised. "I'm terrible, aren't I?"

Draco shook his head. "No, you're not terrible. You were both consenting adults. Although I do suspect it was against some sort of rules."

"Technically no, but it wasn't the best idea for an advisor to be having a relationship with one of the trainees," Hermione answered. "Kyle suggested we kept it quiet while I was in training. Not only would questions be asked about his role as an advisor, but people would question my achievements."

Suddenly Draco understood why the gossips at the Ministry bothered Hermione. People thought she'd risen to be head of the pathology and forensic department because of her friendship with Harry, which undoubtedly brought back memories of what people could have said about her during her medical training if her relationship with one of the advisors had been made public knowledge.

"So what happened?" Draco pressed as Hermione lapsed into silence.

"Kyle and I carried on our relationship in secret. As I said, looking back he never told me he loved me or made any promises to me, but at the time it felt like he felt the same way as I did. He always said we only needed to keep quiet while I was training, I assumed that meant we could go public when I was fully qualified."

"I take it that's when you found out he had no intention of making your relationship public," Draco said sympathetically. Even though Kyle had never told Hermione he loved her, it certainly sounded as though he'd led her on and made her believe that he did, and in Draco's opinion that was just as bad.

"It was a few weeks before my training was due to end," Hermione said. "I'd just finished my final exam and went round to Kyle's to celebrate. I thought we could discuss going public, but I'd no sooner arrived than he told me about a job offer he'd received in America. Like an idiot, I thought he wanted me to go with him. That's when he told me that we were finished. He made it clear that he'd never loved me and he'd never had any intention of making our relationship public. I was just a bit of fun for him, and I had an expiry date."

"I'm sorry Hermione, that must have hurt," Draco said, taking hold of Hermione's hand.

"It did," Hermione replied. "I went back to my place and spent the weekend in bed crying. Not only had he broken my heart, but he'd made a complete and utter fool of me. I was planning on spending the rest of my life with that man, and to him it was nothing more than a cheap thrill. He just got off on the secrecy of bedding one of his trainees. I was just the one stupid enough to fall for his flattery."

"Hermione, none of that was your fault," Draco said firmly. "The bloke sounds like a complete arsehole, but you weren't to know that. He may just have been using you, but that was his loss. Any man stupid enough to let you go, isn't worth your tears."

"I know that now, but at the time I was heartbroken," Hermione said. "I was also pretty ashamed of the entire thing, so I never told Harry and Ron what had happened. Ginny suspected that someone had hurt me, but I never told her anything so she dropped it."

"You say that you now know he wasn't worth moping over, but yet you've still let him affect your life," Draco said thoughtfully. "He was the reason you wouldn't go out with me, wasn't he? You've been afraid to get involved in case you got your heart broken again."

"You've got me." Hermione smiled sheepishly at Draco. "It took a long time for me to recover after Kyle, and I vowed never to let myself become that vulnerable again. Since then, I've been wary in my relationships and I've never let anyone get too close. That's why I pushed you away, it's not because I don't want you, Draco. It's because I'm scared that you're going to break my heart."

"I'm not going to hurt you, Hermione," Draco said gently. "I can't guarantee our relationship will work out, but I can guarantee I won't hurt you like he did. I won't lead you on. I want you and I want to pursue a relationship with you. I don't know if we're going to be together in the long term, but I sure as hell want to find out."

"That's what I want," Hermione agreed with a smile. "Today was the wake-up call I needed. Not every guy is like Kyle, and I don't want to miss out on seeing what we could have together because I'm scared you might break my heart. That's a risk, I'm willing to take."

Draco grinned as he leant over and connected their lips. "Good," He muttered, pulling back and leaning his forehead against hers. "As much as I hate to say it, we need to go to sleep. We've got to be up early tomorrow and as much as I would love to make love to you again, we need some sleep."

"There's always tomorrow," Hermione said as the couple settled down.

"Yes, there is," Draco murmured in agreement as he wrapped his arms securely around Hermione and the pair drifted off to sleep.


	15. Chapter 15

After events with the lipsticks, Draco insisted on accompanying Hermione back to her place as she got ready for work on Monday morning. While Hermione was changing, Draco took the time to look around her flat. Even though he'd been there the previous weekend, his mind hadn't been on the flat itself, he'd been far too busy enjoying the weekend of mind-blowing sex with Hermione.

Draco was busy examining a wall of photographs when Hermione emerged from the bedroom. The wall was covered in both muggle and magical pictures and Draco suspected everyone that was important in her life was on the wall. If he was lucky, he might someday be on some of the pictures gracing her wall.

"I'm ready," Hermione called as he grabbed her bag.

"Okay." Draco turned back to Hermione and gave her a warm smile. "Let's go to work and catch this monster. I'm getting sick of finding dead bodies."

"That makes two of us," Hermione remarked as she stepped towards the fireplace.

One by one the couple flooed to the Ministry and headed towards the lifts together. Given Hermione's earlier confession of being bothered by office gossip, Draco maintained a professional distance as they entered the lift. Considering it was morning and most people were just arriving at work, they weren't alone in the lift so they confined their conversation to their case.

"We'll let you know what time the meeting is today," Draco said as the lift reached Hermione's floor. They'd already established that the team meeting would be in the afternoon, giving them all time to make some progress.

"Okay, I'll see you there." Hermione stepped out of the lift and gave Draco a small wave. "Bye."

Draco continued on up to the next floor, where he alighted and made his way to the conference room they were using. Ron was already present, fixing the coffee and he greeted Draco with a weary hello. Draco knew Ron's weariness wasn't anything personal, he was just exhausted and most likely frustrated with the case.

"Where's Potter?" Draco asked as he shrugged his jacket off and grabbed a cup of coffee off Ron.

"I don't think he's in yet," Ron replied. "I'm sure he'll be here any minute."

Draco nodded, not doubting for one minute that Harry wouldn't show up in orderly fashion. "I've told Hermione we'd let her know when we're holding the team meeting. I think a few of her test results should be in today, so hopefully she'll have something for us."

"You've already seen Hermione today?" Ron asked, raising an eyebrow at Draco and giving him a knowing smile. "Is there something Harry and I should know?"

"Ask Hermione," Draco replied, although he suspected his large grin told Ron everything he needed to know.

"I'm pleased for the pair of you," Ron said with a warm smile. "It's about time Hermione followed her heart and had some fun."

Harry chose that minute to walk in the door, and immediately wanted to know what was going on. Draco still refused to be drawn on what exactly had happened between him and Hermione, but it didn't take a genius to work out what had happened. Like Ron, Harry was happy for the couple and told Draco to carry on making their friend smile. Unfortunately all too soon, reality intruded and they had to turn their focus on the serial killer they were dealing with.

"How are the list's coming on, Ron?" Harry asked.

"I've got them finished," Ron replied. "We have a few people living abroad, but we can contact foreign Ministries for their help. Do you want us to start with the men or the women?"

"Start with the women," Draco answered. "Don't forget to gather any lipstick samples they might have received."

"What about the men?" Ron asked, focusing on the list of witches from their year. "When do we start warning them?"

"We've arranged for a few of the people who've seen the killer to come into the Ministry this morning and sit with a sketch artist," Harry said. "We're hoping to have a picture give to the men. It might help keep them safe."

"I also think we need to check if anyone's been approached by this witch and turned her down," Draco added thoughtfully. "Not everyone is going to fall for her charms and go back to a hotel with her."

"Malfoy's right," Harry said, nodding in agreement. "I certainly wouldn't sleep with another witch, even if she was throwing herself at me. And I know a couple of other people who wouldn't cheat on their wives either."

"Neville," Ron remarked. "He would never cheat on Luna."

"I also know a few people who wouldn't react to her advances," Draco said. "Theo would never have cheated on Pansy, and Blaise would have turned her down as well."

"Zabini? Blaise Zabini, would have turned down a witch offering him sex? Are you sure?" Ron asked in utter amazement. The Blaise he remembered from Hogwarts would bed any witch that took his fancy.

"The Blaise of old wouldn't have turned her down, but he's in a serious relationship these days," Draco answered. "He's been with Daphne Greengrass for the last three years, and he's completely faithful."

"So what do you think's going to happen if anyone turns down her advances?" Ron asked. "How is she going to target those people?"

"I have no idea," Draco replied with a shrug. "We're also speaking with a profiler this morning, maybe he can help us answer some of these questions."

"She might not have struck out yet," Harry pointed out. "This has only been going on a week. For all we know she's been successful in every pick-up she attempted. But that won't last, especially if we get the word out."

"Okay, I'll make a note to not only warn the men but ask about possible attempts to pick them up," Ron said, scribbling down the information on a piece of parchment. "Hopefully we can start on them this afternoon. I can start on the women this morning, but as soon as we have a picture we can include men in our agenda."

"Let us know how you get along," Harry called as Ron packed up the stuff he needed and headed off to brief his team of M.L.E officers.

"What do you want to do, profiler or artist?" Draco asked his partner. He figured things would get done quicker if they split the workload.

"I'll do the artist, you take the profiler," Harry answered. "We'll meet back here when we're finished and hopefully we can give Ron something for this afternoon."

Happy with the arrangement, Draco sorted everything he thought he would need before the profiler arrived. Harry meanwhile, headed off to get the Ministry's sketch artist so they could get set up to talk to the witnesses. Hopefully the morning would produce something useful, and they could get somewhere on the case.

* * *

When Hermione entered the conference room, she brought with her a stack of folders with different test results in. The only person in the room was Harry, who offered her a warm smile and a cup of coffee.

"How are you doing?" Hermione asked, gratefully taking the cup from Harry.

"We've got a few lipsticks for you to test," Harry answered, pointing to the evidence bags down the other side of the table. "I don't even know if they're the right ones though. So far, not many people can remember which lipstick they received through the post."

"But they can remember getting one?" Hermione asked as she moved to look at the small pile of lipsticks. Instantly she spotted three that didn't look to be the same as the three in her lab, but she also found two that looked as though they could be the same model as the ones she already had.

"Some of them can," Harry said. "We've got a couple of people who swear they haven't received anything. Then we've got Lavender Brown, who's received dozens of samples in the last week."

"Why has she received so many samples?" Hermione questioned. She tried to think what she knew about Lavender's life these days, but drew a blank. Since school she couldn't remember hearing anything about her former dorm mate.

"She's a beauty journalist for Witch Weekly, receiving free samples is a by-product of her job," Harry explained. "Unfortunately all the free samples the staff receive are stored in a cupboard for people to help themselves. Ron's currently at her office, overseeing the removal of every lipstick from the cupboard, as well as trying to ascertain if anyone has taken one in the last week or so."

"God, that could be a disaster," Hermione muttered as she re-took her seat. "Anyone could now have hold of a lipstick."

"Let's hope that doesn't happen," Harry said. "So, do you have anything for us?"

"Nothing we didn't expect," Hermione said, handing Harry a copy of all her results. "The concentration of poison in the lipsticks Susan and I received is the same as the one Pansy received. I've also compared all three lipsticks and found they're from the same batch. They all contain the same basic ingredients, only the colour and packaging is different."

"So she's made a big batch of lipstick, then coloured them differently and placed them in different tubes" Harry mused.

Hermione nodded. "It's looking more and more likely that she's involved in the cosmetic business, or she knows someone who is. I do have some good news though, we have an antidote."

"Good, that might come in useful," Harry said.

"And how's your morning been?" Hermione asked. "Have you had any luck with anything?"

"Malfoy spoke with the profiler, but he didn't give us anything we didn't already know," Harry replied. "The profiler reckons the reason for all this stems back to school. Something happened to make her hate everyone in our year. However, since this is happening now, the profiler believes there's been a trigger recently. Something's happened in her life to reignite this hatred."

"That's not really much use though, is it?" Hermione sighed.

"Not really," Harry admitted with a shrug. "And our witnesses with the sketch artist weren't much better. No-one can give us a good description, all we've got is a vague picture."

Harry flicked through a file, and passed Hermione several sheets of paper. Each sheet contained a drawing of a witch, but they were all lacking in detail. The similarities were clear to see in every one, but not one of the people who'd seen the killer had managed to give any great detail on her face. The only real definite feature was the witch's long, brunette hair.

"We've put all the pictures together and give Ron copies to show to the men, but I'm not hopeful anyone will remember seeing her," Harry said as Hermione studied the pictures. "At this point, all we can hope to achieve is keeping fresh victims out of her reach. Hopefully people will heed the warning and avoid going home with a witch they don't know."

"If Ron's gathering lipstick samples, where's Draco?" Hermione asked as she handed the sketches back to Harry. She'd been dying to ask about Draco the second she walked into the room, but she didn't want to seem too eager.

"He's looking into the backgrounds of a couple of witches we went to school with," Harry answered, grinning at how long it'd taken Hermione to ask about Draco. He'd expected her to ask long before now. "Two work in the beauty industry."

"Who?" Hermione asked.

"Parvati Patil and Tracey Davies," Harry answered. "Tracey is a cosmetologist for a big firm in the United States, while Parvati works in the beauty division of a British potions company."

"Did either of them receive a lipstick?" Hermione asked. While she didn't know Tracey very well, she didn't think Parvati was a killer.

"I don't know about Tracey, we've asked the American Aurors to speak to her," Harry said. "As for Parvati, she provided one of those lipsticks over there. Her name will be on the bag."

Hermione went back over to the evidence bags that contained the lipsticks. She quickly found the one Parvati had handed over. It was one of the ones that seemed to match the three down in her lab. Picking up the other one she thought was also a poisoned one, she noted that it had come from Millicent Bullstrode. Hermione then glanced at the other three bags and found they all came from the same witch, Parvati's twin sister, Padma. Either Padma hadn't received a lipstick, or she didn't know which one it was.

"If we can't find a poisoned lipstick for each witch, we might have to get warrants to search their things," Hermione said as she looked at the three bags from Padma that she doubted contained poisoned lipsticks. She would hate to think that Padma ended up being poisoned just because she couldn't remember which lipstick was her free sample.

"I hope we don't get to that stage," Harry muttered. "Hopefully just talking to these women will make them take extra care with their make-up. We've stressed that they're not to use anything unless they're certain of where it came from. We just have to hope everyone listens, just like we have to hope the men listen and don't let themselves get seduced by a good looking killer."

Leaving the lipstick bags alone again, Hermione returned to her seat. Just as she sat down the door to the conference room opened and Ron staggered in carrying a box full of evidence bags, which he placed at the table.

"Don't tell me all those are from the Witch Weekly's office," Hermione said with a groan.

"Sorry Hermione," Ron said, shooting his friend an apologetic smile. "We had to take them all, and they get a lot of free samples."

"Maybe I should get this lot down to the lab and begin testing," Hermione said. "I can test the ones I think are most likely to be poisoned first."

"I've also got a few more from other people," Ron said, pulling several individual bags from his jacket and placing them on the table.

"Ron, can you help me get this lot down to the lab?" Hermione asked. "I've filled Harry in on what I know, so I should be able to get started here. I can always come back up when I've got the tests going."

"Sure." Ron nodded at Hermione, before he handed Harry a list of names. "I've marked off the people we've spoken to so far. We've still got four or five witches to go, and we've only just made a start on the men."

"We might be able to squeeze a few more in today," Harry said as he took the list and checked who still needed to be spoken to. "And there's always tomorrow."

As Harry was checking the list out, Hermione gathered up the individual evidence bags while Ron picked up the box from the magazine. Just as Ron turned towards the door, it came open and Draco entered the room.

"We've got to go," He said quietly. "We've got two more victims."


	16. Chapter 16

For a few minutes, silence reigned in the conference room as they digested Draco's bombshell.

"Two?" Harry questioned in dismay.

"Bloody hell," Ron muttered.

"Who is it this time?" Harry asked.

"Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnegan," Draco answered, causing the three former Gryffindors to lose their colour as they realised their friends were dead. "They were both on one of the M.L.E officer's list. He tried the house, and got no answer, before trying them both at work. It was Finnegan's day off, so he wasn't expected at work, but Thomas was and he didn't show up. The M.L.E officer returned to their house and forced entry, he found the pair of them dead."

"She's changed her motive," Hermione said. "Why target two at them together, and why take them back to their place?"

Harry and Ron looked at Hermione in bewilderment, but didn't say anything as she jumped up and went to grab her bag. Noticing the pair's bafflement, Draco asked them what was going on.

"This makes no sense," Harry said. "Dean and Seamus wouldn't have fallen for her charms."

"I know a few guys who wouldn't say no to a threesome with a hot witch," Draco answered with a shrug. "Back in the day both Blaise and Theo would have been up for something like that. In fact, it's something they have actually done."

"But Dean and Seamus are a couple," Ron pointed out. "They're not interested in hot witches."

"They're gay?" Draco asked in amazement. "How did Hermione not know this?"

"I have no idea," Ron replied. "It's not a secret."

"She'll find out soon enough," Harry muttered as he got up. "We better be going to the scene. Ron, can you take the lipstick samples down to Hermione's lab?"

"Of course," Ron said as he gathered everything up.

"Are you sure you're up for this?" Draco asked Harry as they made their way towards the lifts. "We are about to go and investigate the deaths of your friends. I didn't have a choice with seeing Greg, but you do."

"I'll be fine," Harry insisted, although the wobble in his voice indicated just how tough he was going to find it.

Draco didn't push the matter further as the pair got into the lift. When they stopped on Hermione's floor, the brunette witch got into the lift and the trio carried onto the atrium in silence. When they reached the atrium, they headed to the fires and flooed to Dean and Seamus's house.

"They're upstairs," The M.L.E officer waiting in the front room said.

"Thanks," Draco said to the officer as he led the way upstairs and into the bedroom.

Dean was lying on the bed, whereas Seamus had made it halfway across the room before he'd collapsed. Both men were naked, and they both had traces of coloured body paint on their bodies. Both Harry and Hermione paused in the doorway to compose themselves, while Draco stepped into the room as he snapped on his gloves.

"Potter, do you want to deal with the rest of the house?" Draco asked. "I can take charge in here."

"Thanks Malfoy," Harry said, taking one final look at the bodies of his friend's before he exited the room.

"Are you sure you can do this, Hermione?" Draco asked, moving back towards the doorway where Hermione was still standing.

"Yes," Hermione answered quietly. "They're my friends, and I owe it to them to catch the witch responsible for their deaths."

Slowly Hermione entered the bedroom and made her way towards the bed. Pulling on her gloves, she quietly examined Dean, before moving across the room to get a look at Seamus.

"We'll need tests to confirm, but it looks like the same as the rest," Hermione said hollowly. "They both have traces of body paint on their torsos and around their lips. It looks like they've ingested the poison as well as having it spread over their bodies and absorbing into their skin."

"Are these the paints?" Draco asked, picking up two half used tubs of body paint that sat on one of the bedside cabinets.

"Why has she left the tubs behind?" Hermione frowned as Draco placed the tubs into evidence bags. "She didn't leave any evidence with any of the others."

"That's because she was never here," Harry said from the doorway. When Hermione and Draco turned to look at him, he held up a brown envelope that matched the one Hermione had received with her lipstick in. "I found this in the front room. It looks like Dean and Seamus received a free sample of the body paint."

"Why would she just send a sample?" Hermione asked, looking between Harry and Draco. She got the feeling she was missing something, but she didn't know what it was. "We already decided that actually having sex with her victims is a key part of her M.O."

"That would never have worked with Dean and Seamus," Harry said gently. "They were a couple, Hermione."

Hermione's mouth dropped open in shock as she looked back to where Dean and Seamus had fallen. Her gaze flicked between the two dead men for several minutes, before she had a good look around the room. It hadn't registered earlier, but it was clearly a bedroom used by a couple. Still in shock, she turned her attention to Draco, who was standing quietly beside her.

"The room hasn't been cleared of fingerprints like the other crime scenes," He said. "There's no sign anyone but Thomas and Finnegan were here. There's clothes belonging to two different men in the wardrobes, and the adjoining bathroom had two sets of male toiletries."

"You honestly didn't know?" Harry asked Hermione as she made her way out of the bedroom.

"I had no idea," Hermione whispered, wondering how she could be so oblivious when it came to the people in her life. Dean and Seamus hadn't been her best friends, but they'd been good friends and she'd seen them often enough.

"Did you not know they lived together?" Draco asked. He was quite surprised to find the couple were gay, considering he could remember both boys having girlfriends in school, but he knew people could change a lot in ten years.

"Of course I knew they lived together, I just thought they were roommates," Hermione replied. "Harry and Ron lived together for a few years, but I never questioned their sexuality."

"Yeah, but I moved out and married Ginny," Harry pointed out. "Did you never wonder why neither of them ever brought dates to nights out and parties? They always attended things like that together."

"I never realised," Hermione said. "I just figured that neither of them had found anyone they wanted to settle down with."

"They had each other," Harry replied. "Their relationship was pretty serious. I would have told you, but I thought you knew. They didn't hide it."

"I'm obviously not a very good friend," Hermione muttered. "But I'll try and be a better one to them now. I'm going to get back to the lab and begin the tests. I'll send a couple of my team for the bodies."

"Do you want to take the body paint and the envelope back with you?" Draco asked.

"Yes," Hermione replied with a nod. "I can get Ron to compare the two envelopes and make sure they came from the same person."

"I think that's a given," Draco muttered as Hermione gathered up what she was taking with her. Even so, he knew they needed to prove it conclusively.

"Tell Ron to stop the M.L.E officers for the day," Harry said. "We need to rethink what we're telling the men. We can start fresh tomorrow and try and get in touch with everyone we haven't yet spoken to."

Hermione nodded and promising to pass on the message, she headed back to the Ministry. With Hermione gone, Harry and Draco continued to process the crime scene. Once Hermione's team had come to collect the two former Gryffindors, the two Aurors headed off to break the bad news to the couple's families.

* * *

In the forensic lab, Hermione had the majority of her team working on the female killer case. Between processing the lipsticks they'd gathered, analysing the body paint they'd removed from the crime scene, and running toxicology reports on Dean and Seamus, everyone was run off their feet. Hermione had also ordered extra tests on every other piece of evidence they had in their possession. The death toll was far too high for her liking, and she was praying they could find something that could help Draco and Harry solve the case.

Hermione herself was working on Dean and Seamus, and every time she looked at them she couldn't help but feel like a bad friend. She'd spoken to Ron when she'd returned to the Ministry, and Ron had told her the pair had been together for several years. How she'd never noticed, she had no idea, but she felt bad for being so oblivious to her friend's lives. Who knew what else she was missing with her other friends.

By early evening, Hermione had confirmed what they already knew. Dean and Seamus had been poisoned by the body paint. The body paint had also been compared to the traces found on Michael, and it was an exact match. Hermione suspected that the body paint was made in bulk like the lipsticks. Whereas the lipstick batch were separated, coloured and put into tubes, the body paint were separated, flavoured and put into tubs. More convinced than ever their killer had experience in the cosmetic and beauty industry, Hermione headed up to the Auror department with her results.

When Hermione arrived at the conference room she was surprised to find Draco was the only one working. There was no sign of Harry and Ron, and even their jackets were gone.

"I sent them home," Draco said when Hermione asked about her friends. "They allowed me some time when I lost my friends so it was the least I could do for them. You should also go home for the night, you've lost a friend as well."

"I'll leave after I've given you these," Hermione said, handing Draco her results.

Draco flipped through them and nodded as they confirmed what they'd already known. "Thanks," He said, placing the results down on a pile of paperwork."

"Harry said you were looking into a couple of people with experience in the cosmetic and beauty industry, did you get anywhere?" She asked. "I'm still convinced we're looking for an expert in that area."

"The American Ministry are helping track down Tracey and looking into her background," Draco answered. "I should have something in the morning. And as for Parvati, she works in the beauty division of a potions company, but not on the manufacturing side. She works sales and promotions, according to her boss she wouldn't have the knowledge to make cosmetics or anything else by herself. I'm thinking about looking deeper into people's backgrounds."

"You know, the antidote's ready," Hermione said quietly. "That might be our key to catching this killer."

"Are you suggesting a trap?" Draco questioned. Setting a trap for the killer was actually something he was going to bring up with Harry.

"Don't say you haven't already thought if it," Hermione retorted. "It could be our only way to end this."

"We'll discuss it tomorrow," Draco said. "For now, you should go home and rest."

"I would, but I don't want to be alone," Hermione replied, looking at Draco with pleading eyes. "I don't suppose you'd be up for keeping me company?"

"Give me ten minutes, and we can go home," Draco said, giving Hermione a smile. "Go and get your stuff. I'll come and get you when I'm done here."

"Thank you, Draco."

Leaving the conference room, Hermione headed back to her office and grabbed her things. On impulse she grabbed some files, thinking she could take a closer look at some of the evidence back at Draco's. When Draco arrived to pick her up, he was carrying a stack of files himself. Obviously he was also planning on working when they got back to his place.

When they got back to Draco's penthouse, they grabbed a quick bite to eat before they both settled at his dining table and got on with some work. Occasionally they would speak about what they were working on, but mainly they worked in silence. After an hour of solid work, the silence was broken when Hermione snapped her quill.

"Damn, I don't have another one," She muttered, searching through her bag and not finding a spare quill.

"There's quills on my desk in the study," Draco said without looking up from his own work. "Feel free to go and grab one."

Thanking Draco for his hospitality, Hermione made her way to Draco's study. She guessed he would normally do his work in the comfortable office, but with two of them it just wasn't practical for them to share his desk. Whereas they had plenty of room to both spread out using the dining table.

Looking at Draco's desk, Hermione quickly located his spare quills nestling underneath a pile of post. As she moved the post to get to the quills her fingers brushed a brown envelope and dread filled her stomach. Carefully, she slid the package out from underneath the other post and her breath caught in her throat when she recognised the writing on the envelope. It was the killer's. Draco had a parcel from the killer, and most likely it contained something designed to poison him.


	17. Chapter 17

The witch looked at her two lists of people she wanted to seek revenge on. Both were coming on slower than she'd hoped, but she now knew she would have to move more cautious when it came to the women. She'd been totally shocked when an M.L.E officer had turned up, asking if she'd received a lipstick through the mail. Luckily she'd managed to keep her cool, and instead of appearing nervous she'd grabbed one of the lipsticks and handed it over, claiming she'd received it through the mail a few days earlier. Hopefully that would keep the investigation away from her, although it was annoying that they'd hit on the lipsticks so quickly. All she could do is hope that a few more witches used them before the investigation took them away. However, it did mean she would have to find an alternative way to get rid of the women on her list.

As for the men, they weren't coming along as quickly as she would like either. She'd been out every night, but obviously she hadn't ran into one of her targets every night. Then there'd been the article in the paper warning men to be careful, and even though she hadn't worried about it affecting her plans, she was worried in case the investigation had warned the men like they'd spoken to the women.

The witch had been hoping that either Harry or Draco would have used their little gifts she'd sent them, but clearly the two Aurors hadn't bothered with their body paint. Hopefully it was because they hadn't had time, not that they were suspicious of the paint. One of the pair dying would have helped her a lot as it would have obviously disrupted the investigation, but she wasn't going to give up hope just yet.

She also wasn't going to give up her plan for revenge. As usual she was going to get ready and head out to try and grab another target. She definitely needed to rethink her plans, but for the minute she would carry on as she had been doing. Even if the Aurors had been speaking to people, she doubted everyone would have listened to them. She still believed that men didn't think clearly when it came to sex, and she planned to use that to her advantage and hopefully grab a new victim tonight.

When she was ready, the witch headed to a bar she knew a few of her targets frequented. As luck would have it she was only there for five minutes before two people on her target list entered the building. Sitting unobtrusively in the corner, the witch watched as one of the men settled in a booth while the other one went to the bar to get the drinks.

The witch sat watching the pair for several minutes, trying to decide which one to approach. She knew that the pair weren't opposed to sharing witches, but she wasn't sure if that was the right approach right now. One of the men was grieving over the loss of his fiancée, and while the other one was involved with someone, she didn't believe for one minute he would be faithful.

Before she'd had a chance to decide what to do, the man who'd just lost his fiancée stood up and made to leave. The other man tried to convince him to stay, but he wouldn't and he exited the bar after less than half an hour. For a minute the witch thought her second target was going to leave as well, but he headed for the bar. Jumping to her feet, the witch sauntered over to the wizard and flashed him her most seductive smile.

"Hi."

"Hey," The wizard replied with a short nod.

"Can I buy you a drink?" She asked, surprised that the man in front of her didn't seem overly bothered by her presence.

"No thanks," The wizard replied. "I'm just leaving."

"That's a shame," The witch said, refusing to give up. "I'm sure we could have a lot of fun together."

"I don't think so," The wizard answered, looking at her in disdain. "I've got a girlfriend, and I don't cheat."

The witch had to bite her tongue to stop from saying that she knew that just wasn't true. He might be in a monogamous relationship now, but she knew he hadn't always been the faithful type. In Hogwarts he'd been well known for dating multiple girls at the same time, and she didn't think his nature would have changed that much. Either he wasn't interested in her, or he'd been warned and was being cautious.

Just in case it was the latter, the witch turned on her heel and exited the bar as quickly as she could. If he had been on his guard he might just call the Aurors, and she didn't plan on being caught. At least not until everyone on her list had been dealt with.

* * *

The Potters had just finished dinner when the floo network sounded. Leaving Ginny to make sure the boys washed up, Harry headed into the front room to see who was calling. The second he entered the room he immediately feared the worst when he spotted a worried looking Hermione and Draco standing in his front room.

"We're sorry to disturb you, but we've got something urgent to tell you," Hermione said.

Before Harry had a chance to ask what was going on, Teddy burst into the room with James toddling along behind him.

"Aunt Hermione," Teddy cried, running over to Hermione and hugging her.

"Hey Teddy." Hermione leant down and gave Teddy a hug and a kiss, before turning her attention to James.

Hermione was making a fuss of James when Ginny appeared in the doorway carrying Albus. Ginny greeted Hermione and Draco warmly, but she could clearly tell their visit wasn't a social one.

"Come on boys, you can play for half an hour before its time for bed," Ginny said.

"Are you coming to play with us, Aunt Hermione?" Teddy asked.

"Maybe next time," Hermione said, giving the little boy a warm smile.

"I'll help Ginny get the kids settled," Harry said to Hermione and Draco. "When we come back, we can talk."

"I'll go and make some tea," Hermione said.

By the time Harry and Ginny returned from settling the kids upstairs, Hermione had made a pot of tea and had a tray sitting on the coffee table.

"Thanks," Harry said as he poured everyone a cup of tea. "Now, what's so urgent? There's not another body, is there?"

"We would have said straight away," Draco reassured his partner. "Hermione found something in my penthouse tonight."

Carefully Draco pulled a brown envelope from his pocket and gingerly placed it on the coffee table. Harry sat forward to see, and his eyes immediately widened in recognition when he spotted the writing on the front. They'd already established the writing had been done using magic, but what most people didn't know what that it was just as distinctive as handwriting. It could be proved that a certain person had used a certain wand to write anything.

"It's from the killer," Harry stated. "What's inside?"

"Have a look," Draco replied.

Carefully Harry opened the envelope and tipped out the contents. A tub of strawberry body paint tumbled from the envelope and landed on the coffee table. Ginny gasped at the sight and she immediately shot to her feet. Vowing to be back, she turned and bolted from the room.

"Crap, she's sending gifts to men now," Harry cursed. "You can bet the paint is poisoned."

"That's what we think," Hermione said. "I can test it tomorrow."

"You might also want to test this," Ginny said quietly as she re-entered the room carrying a matching tub of paint.

"Where did you get that, Gin?" Harry asked as he wife placed the tub on the table and sat back down next to him.

"It arrived on Saturday," Ginny answered. "I assumed it was a free promotion of some sort. But with this case, you've been a bit busy so I didn't think to mention it. I was thinking we could use it when things quietened down at work."

"Thank Merlin I've been too busy to think about sex," Harry muttered.

"Saturday," Draco said quietly, his mind focusing on the details that were pertinent to their case. "That's interesting timing. I'm not sure when my package arrived, but it could definitely have been over the weekend."

"Why is Saturday interesting timing?" Ginny asked.

"We released a statement on Friday afternoon warning men about the killer," Draco answered. "It was in the papers on Saturday, and Potter and I were mentioned as the Aurors in charge of the investigation."

"So she sent us the body paint, knowing we wouldn't fall for her charms," Harry concluded.

"What about Ron?" Hermione asked. "We need to contact him and warn him."

"Weasley wasn't mentioned in the article," Draco said. "Chances are even if the killer realises he works at the Ministry, she won't know he's working this case."

"Malfoy's right, there's no way for her to know Ron's involved," Harry said. "But I still want to give him a call and warn him."

Harry headed over to the floo to place a call to Ron. After briefly speaking to his friend, he travelled through the floo network to Ron's apartment.

"This is all so horrible," Ginny said with a shudder. "Harry said you found Dean and Seamus today."

"We did," Hermione answered quietly. "The bodies are just racking up."

"Will you catch her?" Ginny asked.

"Yes," Draco replied determinedly. "We have to have faith we'll catch her. Besides, we've hopefully cut off her supply of victims. Now we know about the body paint, we can warn the men to be wary of gifts."

"I suppose in situations like these, you have to look on the bright side," Ginny said.

"Is there a bright side?" Hermione questioned with a delicate snort.

Ginny smiled at the pair sitting opposite her. "I would say so. I think you two are a definite bright side."

"We don't know what we are yet," Hermione replied, although she couldn't help the small smile that appeared on her face. "We're just taking things one step at a time."

"But you're happy, and that's what important," Ginny said with a smile. "It's nice to see you finally letting someone in, Hermione."

"I let plenty of people in," Hermione argued. Despite the fact she'd never confided in her friends about her broken heart, she never felt as though she excluded them from her life.

"You let your friends in, but you don't let potential partners in," Ginny corrected. "I'm just saying that it's nice to see someone had finally cracked your shell and has gotten close. Just as long as he doesn't hurt you," She added, turning to Draco and giving him a stern glare.

"I won't hurt her," Draco vowed. Ginny by herself didn't scare him, but he knew that if he hurt Hermione he'd have far more than just the redheaded witch to deal witch, and that thought could be potentially scary.

"Make sure you don't," Ginny responded. "A lot of people love Hermione, and we wouldn't want to see her get hurt."

Hermione glared at Ginny and was just about to tell her to stop interfering when the fire lit up and Harry emerged from the flames. Brushing off the soot from his jumper, he re-joined the group.

"Ron hasn't received any deliveries from the killer," Harry said, much to everyone's relief. "Although he agrees we need to relook at people we've spoken to, to make sure we've warned them sufficiently. That's probably what we'll spend the morning doing."

"We also need to discuss our next move," Draco said. "If we carry on like this, we're going to have more victims. We need to take a proactive approach. It's time we went after her, rather than waiting for her strike again."

"You want to lay a trap," Harry stated. The idea had been running through his head, but he wasn't sure how they would work it.

"Yes, I think we need to lay a trap," Draco answered. "We can talk about it properly tomorrow."

"To lay a trap we need bait," Harry pointed out. "Do you have someone in mind?"

"I do," Draco confirmed with a nod. "And chances are it's the same person you're thinking of."

"Ron."

Draco nodded yet again. "Weasley."

* * *

 **A/N – I just want to clear up something for a clearly confused guest reviewer, who repeatedly asks why they mention the killer having sex with all the victims, when she hasn't had sex with the women. I didn't think it really needed to be so explicitly stated as its fairly obvious, but they're talking about the male victims. Of course they don't think she's having sex with the female victims, but until Dean and Seamus, she was having sex with the males before killing them. So when they talking about her sleeping with her victims first, they're talking about the men, not everyone.**


	18. Chapter 18

The first thing mentioned at the morning meeting was the discovery of the body paint delivered to Draco and Harry. Hermione already had the paint tubs down in her lab, and she'd started the tests before the meeting, although they were all confident the tests would only confirm what they already knew. The paint would be an exact match to all the other body paint they'd encountered on this case. The second thing to come up was the idea of setting a trap for the killer. Ron was immediately on-board with the idea, but it was decided that before they talked about setting a trap they needed to ensure she wasn't going to claim another victim.

"I've got a list of everyone we haven't already spoken to," Ron said. "Instead of getting M.L.E officers to visit them, I thought we could split the list three ways and each go and make some calls."

"Sounds good to me," Harry said with a nod. "It's not like we've got a lot to work on here."

"What about the background on Tracey Davies?" Hermione asked. "Have you heard back from the American Ministry yet?"

"Actually, we have," Draco answered. "Tracey would definitely have the qualifications and ability to make the stuff we're seeing, but she's got solid alibis for each murder. Because of the time difference, she was usually at work, with plenty of witnesses to say she never left the building. She also handed over a lipstick to the Aurors that she received through the mail."

Draco handed Hermione another evidence bag containing a lipstick. Hermione immediately looked at the bottom of the tube, and recognised the writing on the bottom. It looked like an exact match for the others.

"I'll test it, but looks like one of the poisoned ones," Hermione said. "And speaking of poisoned lipsticks, I've noted who we've received poisoned lipsticks from. A few people have donated lipsticks that don't contain the poison, so chances are they still have one somewhere."

"We need to speak to everyone who hasn't handed over a poisoned lipstick," Harry said. "Even if we've already spoken to them."

"I suggest taking a copy of the picture that shows the writing on the bottom of the tube. You can compare lipsticks to the picture and take any that could be a possibility," Hermione said. "We have to try our best to round these lipsticks up, even if people reckon they haven't received one."

"Did you manage to find the one from Lavender?" Ron asked. "Because if not, we're going to have to go back and speak to all the staff."

"That won't be necessary, we found the poisoned lipstick," Hermione said to a relieved Ron. "We're double checking the others just in case, but they should all be fine."

"Do you have your list of lipstick owners?" Ron asked Hermione. "If you give it to me, I can make sure everyone is included on our lists before we split them."

Hermione handed her list over to Ron as she stood up. "I'll leave you to it, I'll be down in my office if you need anything."

"We should be finished sometime this afternoon," Harry said. "We'll let you know if we're meeting to discuss setting a trap for the killer."

"Make sure you do," Hermione warned her friends. "I don't want to be left out, especially as you're going to need the antidote to set any sort of trap."

The three wizards reassured Hermione they wouldn't do anything without her before she left to get on with her own work. While Ron set about altering the lists to include the names Hermione had given them, Harry and Draco sat and discussed the case. They were fairly confident they were looking for someone they went to school with, but they still didn't have a clue as to why they were targeting people in their year, or why they were doing it now.

"Do you think it could be someone older or younger than us?" Harry asked.

"I have no idea," Draco admitted with a sigh. "I still can't understand what an entire year of students could have done to one person. I could understand a group of people doing something to get someone angry, but the entire year seems a bit overkill. It's not as if we all got along and agreed on anything, so how can everyone be to blame for what's happening?"

"It makes no sense to me," Harry said. "I've wondered if it was someone jealous of our year. Maybe they were just a day or two too young to join our year, or something like that."

"But why try and kill us all now, ten years later?" Draco asked. "This seems much more personal to me. And the men seem to have angered her more than the women. The women are being dealt with via lipstick, but the men are getting the personal treatment, apart from those she thinks she can't get near to."

"A jilted witch?" Harry suggested.

"Jilted by an entire year?" Draco asked with a chuckle. "I can't think of one girl who dated the entire school, or tried to date the entire school. My only girlfriend in school was a Slytherin, I barely even spoke to witches from other houses."

"And I never looked at a Slytherin," Harry said. "Although, apart from Cho, I never looked any further than Ginny."

"Speculating isn't getting us anywhere," Ron said, joining in the conversation as he'd finished his work. "Let's get people warned, then we can discuss this plan to trap her. Hopefully by the end of the week this will all be over."

Ron handed both Harry and Draco a list of people to visit, along with several evidence bags and the pictures of the witch they suspected as being the killer. After establishing they all knew what they had to cover with each person, the trio went their separate ways.

* * *

Draco's last names on his list was his friends, Blaise Zabini and Daphne Greengrass. Ron had tried to organise it so that Draco had dealt with the Slytherins, while he and Harry had dealt with the Gryffindors, and the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs had been shared around. So far, Draco had a collection of lipsticks from the witches, and nothing from the men. All the wizards he'd spoken to promised to steer clear of mystery witches in bars, but unfortunately none had already been approached by the killer.

Draco decided to try Blaise and Daphne at home, hoping they would both be there. Blaise was a professional quidditch player, so he was often at home during the day, while Daphne was a writer, specialising in fashion and beauty books, and worked from home. Luckily for Draco, when he arrived at his friend's house, they were both present.

"I take it this isn't a social call," Blaise said as he led Draco into the front room where Daphne was sitting.

"No, it's about these murders," Draco replied. Saying hello to Daphne, he took a seat as Blaise settled down next to his girlfriend.

"It's just awful," Daphne said quietly. "I still can't believe Greg and Pansy have gone."

"Neither can I," Draco said. "It's all just so senseless."

"Do you have any leads?" Blaise asked. "Theo said you reckon it was the same person that killed Greg and poisoned Pansy."

"We're confident the same witch is targeting both men and women from our year at school," Draco replied as he reached into his jacket and pulled out the pictures of the suspected killer. "These are the pictures we've gotten from eyewitnesses," He said as he handed the sketches over to Blaise. "They're not great, but it's the best we've got. Has she approached you Blaise? And if she does, don't go with her."

"I wouldn't go with anyone," Blaise snorted, before looking down at the pictures Draco had given him. Flicking through the images, he frowned as the previous night entered his head.

"Do you recognise her?" Draco asked, spotting Blaise's frown.

"Possibly," Blaise answered. "Last night I took Theo out for a drink. He didn't stay long, but just after he left I was approached by a woman. She hit on me, I turned her down and she left."

"What did she look like?" Draco questioned, hoping Blaise could be more use than everyone else who'd seen the killer.

"I didn't pay much attention," Blaise admitted with a shrug. "She was a brunette, and she was dressed pretty tarty. Her dress was short and low cut, it didn't leave much to the imagination. She was attractive, but nothing special. Although, she didn't seem impressed when I told her I wasn't interested."

"What do you mean?" Draco asked.

"She got this look as though she couldn't believe I was saying no," Blaise replied. "She either doesn't get turned down much, or she thinks she's hotter than she is."

"Can I see those pictures?" Daphne asked. When Blaise handed the pictures over, she studied them pretty carefully. Draco was right in the fact they weren't very detailed, but there was enough to trigger a memory.

"Do you know who she is, Daph?" Draco asked, hoping they were going to get a break on the case.

"No," Daphne answered with a shake of her head. "But just over a month ago I was having a book signing, and a brunette witch approached me and said hello. It felt like she knew me, but I didn't recognise her. I figured I'd met her at another book launch, and I didn't remember her. I meet so many people, it's hard to keep track. I polity asked her if we knew each other, and she gave me this cold look and stalked away. I can't be sure, but it might be the same witch."

"And did neither did you recognise her from school?" Draco asked. He thought it was very possible that the witch Daphne had failed to recognise was the same witch doing the killing.

"You think she's from school?" Blaise questioned.

"It's the strongest connection we've got," Draco answered.

"Sorry, I can't say I recognised her," Blaise said.

"Neither did I," Daphne added. "Although I'm not sure I would recognise a lot of people from school. I would recognise the other girls from Slytherin, I know what Lavender Brown looks like because of her column in Witch Weekly, and obviously I'd recognise Hermione Granger since she's a war heroine. But apart from that, I don't think I'd recognise anyone else."

"Would the pair of you be willing to come into the Ministry and talk to our sketch artist?" Draco asked.

"Yeah," Blaise answered. "I could give you my memory of last night, but I didn't pay too much attention to her to be honest."

"That's the problem with everyone who's seen her," Draco said. "Apart from her victims, no-one paid her that much attention. We have tried looking at a few people's memories, but none of them are any clearer than what they remember."

"We'll do anything we can to help," Daphne said. "We'll come to the Ministry, and talk to your artist, and we'll even give you our memories. We want this bitch caught."

"We appreciate your help," Draco said. "And I do have one more thing to mention. As you know Pansy was poisoned by her lipstick. We now know the killer sent it to her as a free sample. She's also sent one to every other witch in our year, so have you received one Daphne?"

As Draco had been talking about the lipstick, dread crept up on Daphne. She'd received a parcel just like that at the beginning of the previous week, and she was terrified about where it was and what could have happened.

"Daph." Blaise nudged his girlfriend, trying to get her attention. She seemed to have zoned out at the mention of the lipstick.

"Daphne, did you get a lipstick?" Draco asked gently.

"Yes," Daphne whispered, looking up at Draco and Blaise with horror in her eyes. "I gave it to Astoria."

Draco and Blaise looked at each other, understanding Daphne's worry. Astoria was Daphne's younger sister, and if she had the lipstick then she was in danger.

"Give me Astoria's address, and I'll go and get the lipstick from her," Draco said. He was hoping they weren't too late in retrieving the lipstick, but surely if something had happened to Astoria they would have heard by now.

"She's not at home," Daphne said as the tears began to fall down her face. "She was going away on holiday. She left the day I gave her the lipstick, and I haven't heard from her since."

"Give me all the information you have and I'll find her," Draco reassured a sobbing Daphne.

With Blaise's help, Daphne found the information about where Astoria was holidaying. Promising to be in touch the second he knew anything, Draco left his friends and rushed back to the Ministry. They now had to hope they reached Astoria before she used the lipstick, but it wasn't looking good. Astoria had been gone a week, so there was every chance she'd already used the poisoned lipstick.


	19. Chapter 19

Draco stood outside in the warm sun, trying to ignore what was going on in the room behind him. However, it was impossible to forget that they had another victim. This time the younger sister of one of his best friends.

After leaving Daphne and Blaise's, Draco had headed back to the Ministry where he summoned Harry back to the office and filled him in on what was going on with Astoria. Harry had handed over the remaining couple of people on his list to Ron, and the pair had set off to try and locate Astoria in Italy, which was where she'd gone on holiday. The pair had travelled via the Italian Ministry, and as such they had a couple of Italian Aurors with them when they arrived at the villa Astoria was using.

Unfortunately they had been too late, and when they entered the villa they'd found Astoria collapsed in the bedroom. The Italian Aurors were more than happy to let Harry and Ron take charge, and they gave the pair permission to summon Hermione and take the body back to England.

It was while Hermione was dealing with the body and Harry was officially sorting things with the Italians that Draco had sought solace outside of the bedroom. Even though he wasn't watching what was going on, he could hear everything and he heard when Hermione finished her initial examination and asked Harry to arrange for Astoria to be taken back to the Ministry. As such, he knew who was approaching him as he heard soft footsteps behind him.

"Are you alright?" Hermione asked quietly as she emerged from the villa.

"Not really," Draco responded. "I was hoping we wouldn't be too late. Now I have to tell Daphne her little sister is dead, and she's going to blame herself for giving her the lipstick."

"You do know you're not to blame either, don't you?" Hermione checked. It was very clear that Draco was blaming himself for what had happened to Astoria, and while she knew he would make sure Daphne didn't blame herself, she doubted he would do the same with himself.

"Aren't I?" Draco turned to look at Hermione and she could clearly see the devastation in his grey eyes. "We shouldn't have stopped warning people yesterday. In fact we should have started warning people the second we knew about the lipsticks."

"It wouldn't have saved Astoria," Hermione said gently as she cupped Draco's face in her hand. "We didn't make the connection with the lipsticks until the weekend, and Astoria's been dead since the middle of last week. She might even have died before Pansy, I can't be sure until I do further tests back at the Ministry. But no matter when she died, this isn't your fault, Draco. You couldn't have saved her."

Draco's shoulders sagged as a sense of relief flooded him. On a personal level he was pleased that he couldn't have done anything to stop Astoria's death, but on a professional level he still felt a responsibility to the victims. It had been over a week since they discovered the first victim, and it was starting to get to him that they were still no further forward.

"Just don't blame yourself for things you can't control, Draco," Hermione said, giving Draco a quick kiss.

"I won't," Draco vowed as he watched Hermione head back into the villa.

Steeling himself to get on with things, Draco returned to the villa. Hermione was just leaving and the Italians were handling Astoria's transfer home. Harry meanwhile, was waiting for his partner to come back indoors.

"We should head back to the Ministry," Harry said.

"Yeah," Draco wearily agreed. "I've got to go and tell Daphne the bad news."

"We have to go and tell Daphne what's going on," Harry corrected. "You're my partner, Malfoy, I'm not going to let you do this alone. We deliver bad news together."

"Thanks Harry," Draco said, giving his partner a small smile as he used his first name for the first time. Even though a friendship was growing between them, they were quite comfortable with using their surnames, but it felt like the time to use his partner's first name.

After checking with the Italians that everything was in hand, Draco and Harry headed back to the Ministry. Not wanting to put off delivering the bad news to Astoria's family, Draco apparated him and Harry to Daphne and Blaise's house. When they knocked Blaise opened the door, and when he saw their sombre expressions his heart dropped.

"She's gone, hasn't she?" He asked as he let Draco and Harry into the house.

"I'm afraid so," Draco replied.

"Daphne's in the front room," Blaise said, turning around and leading the way into the front room.

Like Blaise, Daphne didn't need to be told Astoria was gone. The second she saw Draco's face she knew her sister was dead and she broke down in harsh sobs. Blaise immediately pulled his girlfriend into his arms, as Draco and Harry explained what had happened and offered their sympathies.

"You have to catch her," Daphne insisted through her tears. "Please Draco, find whoever did this and make them suffer."

"I promise we'll find her, and when we do she'll spend the rest of her life in Azkaban," Draco promised.

"I know this isn't the best time, but Draco mentioned you've potentially both spoken to the killer," Harry said. "It would be great if we could get a description of the witch."

"We're willing to speak with your artist," Blaise said. "And we can both donate our memories, not that I'm sure they're going to be much good."

"We can come into the Ministry whenever you're ready," Daphne offered quietly.

"Why don't you come in tomorrow," Harry suggested. In other circumstances, Harry would have suggested the pair accompany them back to the Ministry right away, but he thought it was best if they had some time to come to terms with what had happened with Astoria.

"We will," Blaise said with a nod.

"Someone has to tell our parents," Daphne whispered.

"We'll do that," Draco told his friend.

Daphne nodded, before dissolving into another round of tears. Leaving Blaise to comfort his girlfriend, Draco and Harry said their goodbyes and left the house. From there they headed to the Greengrasses where they informed the couple their daughter was dead. After arranging for the couple to visit the Ministry and see their daughter's body, the two Aurors headed back to the Ministry.

Entering the conference room, Harry and Draco found Ron was back and was making notes at the table. Removing their jackets the pair grabbed a cup of coffee each before joining Ron at the table.

"Did you finish the lists?" Harry asked.

"I did," Ron replied. "Everyone's been warned, and I'm fairly confident we've got lipsticks from most of the witches. By my reckoning there's three women we haven't got lipsticks from, but nothing they owned matched what we were looking for. Anyway, we took everything they had in case they received something slightly different. We've also had lipsticks from the witches that live abroad."

"So what are the lists?" Draco asked. "We can keep trying with the witches who haven't given us a sample, but they may have thrown them. I doubt that's going to get us anywhere, and at least now they've been warned."

"I don't think we can go much further with the lipsticks," Ron agreed. "As you said, at least they've been warned. What I'm doing, is making a list of the witches in our year and trying to work out if any of them possess the knowledge to be our killer. I'm looking into their pasts and previous occupations to see if there's something there."

"We might also need to check out friends and family," Harry suggested. "The witch herself might not be making the stuff, but she might know someone who can provide her with what she needs."

"Do you think she's also getting help with the poison?" Ron asked. They'd been working on the assumption that the killer was doing everything herself, but if she was getting help it would make finding proof that much harder.

"Unless she's in cahoots with someone, I doubt they're helping her with both the poison and the other things. It wouldn't take a genius to work out what she was doing," Draco replied. "She might however have two people helping her. One might be providing the poison, while the other might be providing her with the other bits."

"It's all something to be looking into," Ron said as he made yet more notes. "Although hopefully we can catch her, and we can find out all this by interviewing her."

"Speaking of catching her, we need to talk about this plan to entrap her," Harry said. "We might not be able to get going tonight, but I do want to get up and running as quickly as possible."

"I promised Hermione we would wait for her," Ron said. "She said she would be up when she was finished."

"In that case, we can help you investigate the potential suspects," Harry said. "Give us some details, and we can get going."

Ron handed over a couple of files, and for nearly an hour the trio worked on digging up the history of women they'd went to school with. By the time Hermione entered the room, they still hadn't found anyone capable of making up the beauty products. They had however found several witches capable of making the poison, although considering it was so simple to make almost everyone could make the poison.

"Should we get started on discussing our entrapment plan?" Ron suggested when Hermione had taken her seat.

"In a minute," Hermione said. "Before that, I thought you just might like to know that Astoria has been dead since Thursday evening." Turning her attention to Draco, she made sure she'd captured his attention before reiterating what she said earlier. "We couldn't have prevented her death."

"Thanks for letting me know," Draco said, shooting Hermione a small smile. Even though she'd told him earlier that he couldn't have saved Astoria, it was good to have confirmation of the fact.

"Now we can discuss your plan to capture the killer," Hermione said. "Although, the plan better be safe."

"We have an antidote, don't we?" Ron checked. "We're fine then," He said when Hermione confirmed they did indeed have an antidote ready to go.

"I'd rather we didn't have to use the antidote, Ron," Hermione said to her friend. "I'm hoping we can capture her before she poisons you."

"I'm hoping the same thing," Ron replied. "I don't want to get naked with a killer."

"Hopefully no-one will be getting naked," Harry declared. "As I see it, the plan will be pretty simple. We set Ron up as bait, while Malfoy and I watch from the side-lines in disguise."

"And me," Hermione interrupted. "I'm going to be there for this. We can give Ron some of the antidote just in case, but I think it would be wise if I was there with extra."

"You can be with us as well," Harry said, knowing it wasn't worth arguing with Hermione. "As I was saying, we can be watching Ron in disguise. It might take a few days, but hopefully the killer with approach Ron. From the descriptions we've got, we've got a bit of an idea of what she looks like so that should help. Ron plays along with the witch and goes back to a hotel with her. Once at the hotel, we burst in and together we can arrest her."

"What charges are you arresting her on?" Hermione queried. "You can't arrest someone for going back to a hotel."

"Fine, we'll enter the room and ask for her help in our enquiries," Draco amended. "If she refuses, we can forcibly take her into the Ministry. If she's the killer, she'll have something with the poison in and if she's an innocent witch then surely she won't have a problem helping us in the first place."

"See, I shouldn't even have to remove my clothes," Ron said. "We can take her into custody without me ever being in danger."

"Just remember to watch out for her nails," Hermione warned. "You'll be safer is she was planning on using the body paint or massage oil, but if she's got her nails poisoned she could scratch any one of you during the arrest."

"That's why you're going to be there with the antidote," Harry said to his friend.

"I'd rather you were all careful," Hermione muttered.

"Don't worry, none of us are going to be taking any risks," Draco reassured her.

"Good, because I don't want to lose any of you," Hermione replied, looking around at the three men. All three of them meant the world to her, and she didn't know what she would do if she lost any of them.

"Can we start tonight?" Ron asked. "It's a pretty simple plan so it won't need much planning."

"I've still got a bit more to do before I leave, but I'll be finished in a few hours," Hermione said.

"That should be fine," Harry said. "We need to grab some polyjuice potion for us three to watch Ron."

"Why don't we meet in the atrium at half six," Ron suggested. "We can then head out from there."

Agreeing to meet up in a few hours' time, the meeting ended and they all went back to work. Hopefully their plan wouldn't take long to work, and in the mean time they planned to examine the lives of every witch that had attended Hogwarts in their year. If their trap didn't work, they would have to find the killer through hard work and research. Either way they were determined to catch the killer and end things before there was another victim.


	20. Chapter 20

Hermione sat beside Draco, his arm wrapped securely around her waist as he talked to Harry. The trio were sitting in a bar not far from Ron's flat, watching to see if he was approached by the killer. Since everyone had been approached in bars that they usually frequented, it was decided that Ron should head to the bar when he spent the most time. When he was with Harry, or co-workers he visited a bar nearer to the Ministry, but when he was alone he visited the bar they were currently in.

So far, they'd been in the bar a little over an hour and nothing untoward had happened. Ron was drinking with a few people he knew, while under the guise of polyjuice potion, Hermione, Harry and Draco were keeping an eye on him. The plan was for Ron to act as he would normally do, and not spend any longer at the bar than he would normally do. They had no idea if the killer watched her victims before choosing them so they didn't want to make it obvious they were setting a trap by having Ron spending all night in the bar when he would normally just stay a few hours.

"Have you seen anything?" Harry asked. When they'd first arrived he'd cast a spell around their table so that no-one could overhear their conversation, although for the majority of the time he and Draco had just been discussing quidditch.

"No," Hermione replied. "No-one's approached Ron, and I haven't seen anyone suspicious in the bar."

"I don't expect we'll get results on the first night," Draco said. "This could take a while."

"Let's hope it doesn't take too long," Harry muttered.

"Maybe we'll catch a break tomorrow when Blaise and Daphne come to speak to you," Hermione suggested hopefully. "Maybe one of them can remember more than they think and we can get a positive I.D on the killer."

"That would be great," Harry said. Not that he thought for once minute that the answer would just be dropped in their laps so easily.

"Not that's it likely to happen," Draco chuckled sharing Harry's thoughts exactly. "We're not going to be so lucky."

"We can dream though," Harry replied. "And speaking of luck, it looks likes tonight's has just ran out. Ron's getting ready to leave."

Making sure it wasn't obvious that they were watching him, the trio observed Ron saying his goodbyes and pulling on his jacket. Without even a glance in their direction, Ron left the bar to head home. Harry waited almost five minutes before he also stood up and pulled his jacket on.

"I'm off," He said as he silently removed the spell that had been silencing their table. "See you tomorrow."

"Bye mate," Draco called as Harry exited the building.

"So what now?" Hermione asked, turning her attention to Draco and wishing he looked like himself. His polyjuice potion had him looking like a dark haired man with a goatee, and she didn't like it. She wanted her blond, clean shaven lover back.

"We wait for a few minutes, then we go home."

The plan had been for Ron to leave the bar and head home, and Harry would follow him. Once Harry was sure Ron was safely back at home and they'd missed nothing untoward, he would send a message to Draco's wand. With the message received, Draco would then know it was okay for him and Hermione to head home for the night.

"I've been thinking about home," Hermione said hesitantly. She didn't want Draco to feel rejected, but she felt as if she needed to set some boundaries in their rapidly growing relationship. "I think tonight we should each return to our separate places."

"Is there any particular reason?" Draco asked. He'd been fully expecting that Hermione would return to his, just like she'd been doing for the last couple of nights.

"I just don't think we should rush into things," Hermione answered. "I would willingly spend every night with you, but we've only just gotten together. It's too much, too fast."

Draco nodded, begrudgingly seeing where Hermione was coming from. At the rate their relationship was developing, they would be living together before either of them knew where they were. Not that Draco had any problem living with Hermione, he just knew they should build up to it. After all, they hadn't even had an official first date.

"I've hurt you, haven't I?" Hermione asked when Draco remained silent.

"No, you haven't hurt me," Draco said. Before he could say more, he felt his wand vibrating in his pocket as Harry sent the signal that everything was okay with Ron. "Come on, I'll take you home. But don't worry, I won't stay."

Still convinced that she'd wounded Draco, Hermione grabbed her jacket and followed him out of the bar. Once outside they darted into a side alley and apparated to Hermione's apartment block. By the time they walked up to the floor Hermione lived on and stopped outside her place, the polyjuice potion had worn off and they were themselves again.

"I'm really sorry if I've upset you, Draco," Hermione said. "I don't want you thinking that I don't want to continue seeing you, because I do. I'm so pleased that you wouldn't let me push you away. You persevered, and forced me to face my feelings for you, and I'm so grateful for that. I think we could have something special, and I would hate for you to misunderstand what I'm trying to say."

"Hermione, stop talking," Draco said, placing a finger over her mouth to shut her up. "I'm not upset or hurt by your decision to come home. I understand it completely. True, I'd much rather be settling down in bed with you, but I understand why we need some space. We haven't even been on a proper date, and we don't want to rush things."

"So, I haven't offended you?" Hermione checked.

Draco shook his head as he smiled down at Hermione. "No, you haven't offended me. I might be offended if we go days without sharing a bed, but not spending every night together is perfectly fine with me."

"Don't worry, I don't plan on spending every night alone," Hermione remarked as she pulled Draco closer to her and wrapped her arms around his neck. "I rather like spending the night with you."

"The feeling is entirely mutual," Draco whispered as he dropped his head and connected his lips to Hermione's.

When Draco plunged his hand into her hair and pulled her right up against him, Hermione almost changed her mind about sleeping alone. Just having Draco pressed right up to her, was turning her on and rapidly changing her mind about the amount of time they were spending together. However, before she caved in and verbalised her change of heart, Draco pulled away and took a step back.

"I need to be going, otherwise I'll not be leaving tonight," He said, struggling to regain his composure and not pounce on Hermione. "But when this thing is all over, the first thing I'm going to do is take you on a proper date."

"I'll look forward to it," Hermione smiled. "Goodnight, Draco."

"Night, Hermione."

With a final, brief goodnight kiss, Draco turned and headed towards the stairs. Hermione waited until he was out of sight before finding her key and letting herself into her flat.

* * *

"Okay, so first you'll speak to our sketch artist before giving your memories of the night's in question," Draco explained to Daphne and Blaise when his friends turned up at the Ministry.

Daphne and Blaise had shown up exactly as planned and Draco was sitting with his friends in one of the interview rooms in the legal department. He was just running through what they would expect to experience while they were here.

"What happens once we've given our memories?" Daphne asked quietly. It was obvious she was still struggling to come to terms with what had happened to her sister, and Draco suspected she'd had very little sleep.

"Harry will be the one looking closely at the memories," Draco answered. "One of his specialties is examining memories. Believe me, if either of you remember anything important, he'll be the one to find it."

"What if we can't remember anything to tell the artist?" Blaise asked. Even though he'd only been approached by the witch in question a few days ago, he felt as though he could barely remember the incident.

"That's why we're taking the memories as well," Draco said. "Don't worry about your mind going blank when you're with the artist, it happens all the time. However, she's one of the best and she's brilliant to getting people to remember things they might not otherwise remember."

"Do you really think we can give you something to help you?" Daphne asked.

"I do," Draco replied with a nod. "You two are the only ones we know the witch has spoken to directly. Everyone else who's given us a description, merely saw her. They didn't interact with her at all, they merely noticed her from a distance. We're hopeful that since the pair of you actually talked to her, you'll have more to tell us."

"We'll try our best," Blaise reassured his friend.

"I know you will," Draco replied, giving Blaise and Daphne a smile. "Now who wants to go first?"

"I will," Daphne offered.

Draco took Daphne into the room where the sketch artist was waiting and made the introductions. Leaving Daphne to do her bit, he grabbed two cups of coffee and returned to where Blaise was waiting for him.

"Thanks," Blaise said, taking the coffee from his friend.

"How's she holding up?" Draco asked.

"She spent most of the night crying," Blaise answered sadly. Draco could see how broken up Blaise was for Daphne, and he knew his friend felt terrible that he couldn't do anything to take the pain away from his girlfriend. "She's blaming herself, and she thinks her parents are too."

"Surely her parents wouldn't blame Daphne," Draco said. "She didn't know about the lipstick, she had no reason to think there was anything suspicious going on."

"Her parents are grieving, just like she is," Blaise said. "They visited last night and things got a bit tense. In time, I'm sure everything will be okay."

"I'm sure it'll help when we catch this monster," Draco said. "Closure will help everyone move on."

"Speaking of moving on, it's Greg's funeral tomorrow," Blaise said with a sigh. "His father came to see me this morning to deliver the time. I said I would let you know."

"Thanks," Draco replied, dreading the thought of having to bury one of his oldest friends. "I'll be there."

"I just can't believe all this," Blaise whispered, sitting back in his seat and running his hands through his thick black hair. "Tomorrow we bury Greg, Pansy's funeral will likely be the end of the week and next week we'll be burying Astoria."

"Not to mention the other funerals," Draco said quietly. As a show of respect he knew someone from the Ministry would be attending every of the victims funerals, he just hoped he only had to attend the funerals of his friends.

"This is depressing," Blaise muttered. "Haven't you got anything else to talk about? How are you settling in now you're home?"

"I'm settling in fine," Draco replied. "Of course, I've mainly spent my time at work with all that's happening."

"I guess that's understandable," Blaise said. "I suppose that means you've done nothing else since your return home. No potential love interests?"

"Actually, there is someone," Draco replied with a smile.

Draco told Blaise about Hermione, until it was time for his friend to sit with the artist. While Blaise was in with the artist, Draco arranged for Daphne to give her memories to Harry. Once she'd deposited her memories, he got her a drink and stayed with her until Blaise was finished with both the artist and Harry.

"Thank you both for coming in," Draco said as he walked his friends back down to the atrium. "I'll make sure you know if when we make some progress."

Saying goodbye to his friends, Draco returned to the conference room. By the time he got there, Ron already had the artist's sketches. Unfortunately they weren't much better than anything else they had. It still wasn't good enough to really get a feel of what the witch they were looking for truly looked like.

"Harry's examining the memories," Ron said when Draco threw the latest sketches back down onto the table. "Hopefully he'll come up with a better likeness."

"Hopefully," Draco replied as he settled down in his seat to carry on with their work. They still had people's pasts to look into as they tried to identify the killer.

Just over an hour later, Harry entered the conference room with a spring in his step. Announcing he had something, Harry laid out a series of colour pictures that he'd gotten from the memories of Blaise and Daphne. The witch they'd talked about was undoubtedly the same one, and they were confident it was the same witch everyone else had described.

"At least now we have a better picture of who we're looking for," Ron remarked as he studied the pictures of the witch they were searching for.

The descriptions of her were actually fairly accurate, and all three of them could see why no-one had been able to describe her in detail. The witch they were looking for was attractive, but she didn't stand out. Apart from her chest, that was more than likely enhanced either by surgery or magic, she was pretty unremarkable. She was a slim, attractive brunette, just like a decent percentage of the witches in Britain.

"I still don't recognise her though," Draco said, looking to Harry and Ron. "Do you?"

"No," Harry answered.

"I've never seen her before," Ron replied.

"We've been working on the assumption the killer is someone we went to school with, but this witch is a stranger to all three of us," Draco said. "Does that mean we've been on the wrong track all this time?"

The trio shared worried looks as they let Draco's question sink in. They'd been so sure of the connection between the victims, but what if they'd been wrong. What if they'd been looking in the wrong place all this time? But if they weren't looking for someone they went to school with, who were they looking for? And why on earth were they targeting the group of people that attended Hogwarts the same year they did?


	21. Chapter 21

Under the hot spray of the shower, Draco tried not to think about what he was doing that day. Instead of dwelling on the fact he would be attending the funeral of one of his oldest friends in a couple of hours, Draco thought about the case, and their distinct lack of progress.

After establishing that the witch Blaise and Daphne had encountered was a stranger, Draco, Harry and Ron had discussed other possibilities regarding the killer's identity. They again mentioned an older or younger student with a grudge against their year, but again they couldn't work out what the grudge was. They also considered that the killer was getting revenge for a former Professor, but again they couldn't think of an incident specific to their year group. They could think of a few former Professors that might hold grudges against some former students, but not an entire year.

Eventually they'd concluded that even though they didn't recognise the killer, she had some connection to their year group. Hoping to dig up some connection, Ron had started thorough background checks on every single student in their year. However, it would take time to delve into the pasts of every student they went to school with, so their plan to try and lure the killer out into the open had continued. Unfortunately, just like the previous evening they left empty handed.

Draco had also left the bar empty handed as Hermione had yet again returned home. Draco understood her desire not to rush their relationship, but he couldn't help but wish she'd spent the night with him. With the prospect of Greg's funeral to face, Draco had spent most of the night tossing and turning and Hermione's presence would have been a welcome distraction.

"You could have just asked her to stay," Draco muttered to himself as he got out of the shower. Even though he'd mentioned the funeral to Harry and Ron and checked they were okay with him going, he hadn't mentioned it to Hermione. However, he was fully aware that if he'd told her, she would have willingly stayed at his penthouse for the night.

Trying not to regret things he couldn't change, Draco made his way to the bedroom and began to get dressed. After magically drying his hair, he pulled on his best black suit and found a set of neatly pressed dress robes. These days Draco rarely wore robes, except for official occasions, but the Goyles were still pretty old fashioned and he knew he would be expected to be wearing robes at the ceremony and burial.

Placing his robes to one side, Draco was just exiting the bedroom when there was a knock on the front door. Half expecting it to be Blaise, asking if he wanted to head to the funeral with him and Daphne, Draco made his way to the front door. What he didn't expect to find was Hermione standing on his doorstep, looking very sombre in a knee length black dress.

"Harry and Ron told me about Greg's funeral," Hermione said as Draco let her into the penthouse. "I just came to see if you wanted me to accompany you. I'll understand if you don't want me there, or if his family wouldn't want me there, but I had to make the offer. I just want you to know that you don't have to do this alone."

"I would appreciate you coming with me," Draco said with a small smile. "Thank you for the offer."

"Why didn't you tell me today was the funeral?" Hermione asked.

"I only found out when Blaise told me while he was at the Ministry, and I didn't really see you until we were going to the pub to watch Weasley. It just didn't seem like the right time."

Taking a step forward, Hermione held Draco's hands in hers. "You should have told me," She said quietly. "I would have been here for you last night."

"You're here for me now," Draco replied, pulling Hermione into his arms and giving her a hug.

"My presence won't cause problems for you, will it?" Hermione checked. While she wanted to be there for Draco, she understood that the Goyles might not appreciate her presence at his burial due to her heritage.

"There'll be no problems," Draco reassured Hermione. "Greg's parents won't resent your presence at the funeral. They have nothing against muggleborns anymore. They would have disapproved of Greg getting involved with one, but that's only because it would have ruined their pure family line. Other than that, they've moved on like most people."

Hermione understood exactly what Draco was saying. After the war a lot of purebloods had come to accept muggleborns as part of society, they just didn't accept them tainting their family history. Hermione knew it was common for purebloods to be perfectly civil towards muggleborns, sometimes even friendly, but only as long as they posed no threat to their pureblood family status. Hermione had to wonder if Draco's parents fit into that category, and if they would accept her as Draco's girlfriend.

"The funeral will be pretty traditional, so you'll need some black robes to go over your dress," Draco said. "Let me grab my robes and we can stop by your place on the way."

When Draco returned from grabbing his robes, Hermione was reminded of the Draco she went to school with. Since school she hadn't seen Draco in robes as the younger people in the Ministry tended to just wear smart work wear.

"Are you ready?" Draco asked, offering Hermione his arm.

Hermione took Draco's arm and they apparated to her flat, where Hermione grabbed a smart pair of black robes and pulled them on over her dress. Fully dressed, Hermione returned to Draco, who apparated them to Greg's funeral.

When they landed, Hermione was shocked to find they were in a vast cemetery. Nearby was a small chapel, where people were gathering, and where Hermione presumed the funeral service would take place. However, she'd never seen such an elegant cemetery.

"Most of the wealthy pureblood families have plots in this cemetery," Draco explained in a quiet voice. "See that large mausoleum at the top of the hill?" He asked, pointing to a white marble mausoleum. "That's the Malfoy family section. The mausoleum and the surrounding plots are filled with Malfoys."

"Trust your family to have the fanciest plot in the cemetery," Hermione muttered, rolling her eyes.

"You know us Malfoys always like the best," Draco jokingly retorted, before his mood turned serious yet again. "I suppose we should head over to the chapel."

Hermione took hold of Draco's hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze before they made their way towards the chapel. As they approached the chapel, Hermione spotted a familiar looking couple and she froze.

"What's wrong?" Draco asked, also stopping as Hermione still had hold of his hand.

"Your parents are here," Hermione said, gesturing to the couple that had stopped her in her tracks. She'd never thought about meeting Draco's parents just yet, and she doubted a funeral was the ideal place for them to announce their relationship.

"So they are," Draco replied, finding his parents in the small crowd outside of the chapel. "Is it a problem?"

"I just didn't expect them to be here," Hermione admitted.

"I never really thought about it," Draco confessed sheepishly. "But it makes sense they would be here. Greg's family are old family friends, and they'd known Greg since we were children. It would have been more surprising if they hadn't been here."

"I guess so," Hermione muttered.

"Don't worry, they won't bite," Draco reassured her as they yet again started to make their way towards the chapel.

Greg's family were already inside, but his friends were all outside and Draco made his way towards the group of former Slytherins. Hermione was relieved when Draco's friends didn't make a fuss over her presence, they were all perfectly polite towards her. After briefly speaking with his friends, Draco led Hermione over to where his parents were standing. Like Draco's friends, his parents were also perfectly polite to her.

"We'll have to have you over for dinner sometime, Miss Granger," Narcissa said. "A funeral is hardly the ideal place to get to know your son's girlfriend."

"I'd like that," Hermione said, smiling warmly at the older witch.

"Let's make arrangements later," Lucius said. "For now, let's go inside and take our seats."

Moving into the chapel, the foursome took their seats. Draco's friends sat around them, and shortly after that, the funeral service began. Because of the war, Hermione had discovered that wizarding funerals were pretty similar to muggle funerals. The ceremony basically consisted of the minister talking about Greg, and various people sharing memories of him. Throughout the entire thing, Draco kept a tight hold of Hermione's hand and she could feel his grief. She suspected that once they were alone, he would let himself cry, but for now he was holding it together.

Once the ceremony was finished in the chapel, the coffin was transported to the cemetery and the congregation made their way outside. At the graveside, Hermione got a good look at Greg's parents. His mother was weeping into a handkerchief, and it was only her husband keeping her on her feet. Hermione felt a wave of sympathy towards the witch, and she remembered what Draco had said about her fragile condition.

Mrs Goyle's fragile condition became very apparent towards the end of the interment when she suddenly collapsed onto the floor. While surprised gasps rippled round the graveside, Hermione rushed over to the fallen witch. Checking she was okay, Hermione gently helped the older witch to her feet and transfigured a chair from a nearby rock. Sitting Mrs Goyle on the chair, she began to check her over for any damage.

"Hermione a trained medical practitioner," Draco told Greg's father when he expressed concerns over Hermione taking charge.

"I thought she was the pathologist," Mr Goyle said quietly. He could vividly remember Hermione being present when he went to formally identify his son.

"She is," Draco answered. "But her background is in medicine. She had to train to be a healer, before she became a pathologist. Don't worry, your wife's in good hands."

Turning their attention back to Hermione, they watched as she finished sorting Greg's mother.

"I think you'll be alright," Hermione said to Mrs Goyle. "But I would recommend you get some rest."

"Thank you," Mrs Goyle said softly. Looking up at Hermione, a flicker of recognition stirred in her eyes. "You're the pathologist at the Ministry."

"I am," Hermione replied.

"Can you tell me one thing? Did my Greg suffer?"

Hermione looked at the devastated women in front of her before shaking her head gently. "No, he didn't suffer."

Mrs Goyle smiled weakly up at Hermione, before her husband stepped in and helped her to her feet. Saying their goodbyes, he took his wife off to get some rest.

"You lied," Draco said softly when Hermione turned back to where he was standing with his parents.

"I didn't think she needed to know that her son died in agony," Hermione replied. "It's bad enough she's outlived her only child, she doesn't need to know his last moments were full of pain and fear."

"It'll come out in the trial when we catch this bitch," Draco said. "She'll know you lied to her."

"Maybe." Hermione shrugged. "But there's a good chance she won't attend the trial in its entirety. If I was her healer, I certainly wouldn't let her attend the whole trial. Chances are it would prove too much for her, I doubt she'd survive being there every day and hearing such terrible details. Hopefully, all she needs to hear is a guilty verdict."

"I think it was a very admirable thing you've just done," Narcissa said kindly. "You saved a broken hearted woman some more pain. I think that was worth the little white lie."

"I thought so," Hermione said. "I don't normally lie to people like that, but sometimes the truth just makes things worse."

"Mother's right, you were very kind to Greg's mother," Draco said, taking hold of Hermione's hand. "And you're right, she didn't need to know the details."

Saying goodbye to Draco's parents, Draco and Hermione made their way from the cemetery and headed back to Draco's penthouse. They both removed their robes, and left them in Draco's bedroom. Draco then changed out of his suit and into his normal work clothes.

"I hope you don't mind if I head back to work," Draco said. "Potter and Weasley said to take the whole day, but I'd rather be working."

"I understand," Hermione replied. "I'm more than happy to head back to work. But just so you know, I'm staying here tonight."

"I'm pleased," Draco said, briefly pulling Hermione into his arms and giving her a gentle kiss. "I really need you right now, and I don't want to spend the night alone."

"You'll not have to," Hermione said. "I'll be here tonight, and in future just let me know if you need me to be with you. I'm here for you Draco, you don't have to be alone."

Sharing another all too brief kiss, the couple tore themselves away from each other and headed back to the Ministry. They had a killer to catch, and as tempting as it was to spend the rest of the day together, they both knew they had other priorities. When this was over they could bask in their new relationship, but for the time being a serial killer took precedence in their lives.


	22. Chapter 22

The witch got ready to go out for the night, anger simmering in her veins. It had been Friday evening since she'd last claimed a victim for herself, and she was getting annoyed. Of course since then, Dean and Seamus had also gone along with Susan. She'd even heard that poor Astoria had accidentally gotten killed instead of her sister, but she was too angry to summon up much sympathy for the young witch. Her plans were all going wrong, and she didn't like it one bit.

She hadn't been too worried at the beginning of the week when Blaise had turned her down. But as the week progressed, she wasn't even finding any of her targets in the bars they usually frequented. She still wasn't quite ready to admit defeat and believe the Aurors had successfully warned everyone about her, but her confidence in gaining a fresh victim was dwindling daily. If she still had no luck in the next few days, she would have to stop and readjust her plans. If she still wanted revenge, she would have to find another way to gain it.

Ready for another night of trawling bars, the witch jotted down the bars she was going to visit and stuffed them in her bag. Leaving her flat, she headed off to the first bar and began her nightly ritual. Earlier on in her plan she would happily spend an hour or so waiting for a potential target, but with so little action she was getting desperate and she barely waited fifteen minutes before moving onto the next bar.

By the time she'd been out for over an hour, she was beginning to think she was in for another luckless night. However, just as she was about to give in and call it a night, one of her targets entered the bar she was sitting in. Perking up, the witch watched from her corner booth as Ron Weasley strode up to the bar and ordered a drink.

She knew Ron worked at the Ministry, and would likely know about the investigation, but it would appear he wasn't being as cautious as he should be. More than likely he thought he was something special and could handle himself. Well she was about to show him otherwise. Ron Weasley was about to become her latest victim.

* * *

By the end of the day, Draco was exhausted, but he couldn't go home with Hermione just yet. While they were working on getting in depth backgrounds for every student in their year, they were still hoping to draw the witch out by using Ron for bait. However, as they'd been talking that afternoon they'd decided on a slight change of plans. Since they now had a much better idea of what the witch they wanted to talk to looked like, it wasn't necessary for Ron to risk his life and take her back to the hotel. They could approach her in the bar and request she accompanied them back to the Ministry for questioning.

Because of the alteration to the plan, it was also decided to ditch the polyjuice potion. This time when Draco, Harry and Hermione were watching Ron they would just be using glamour charms. That way they could remove the glamours when they approached the witch. If of course, she ever showed up.

"Are you ready?" Hermione asked.

Draco looked over to where Hermione was standing in the doorway of the conference room and nodded. Harry had already applied his glamours and headed down to the atrium with Ron, while Draco had opted to wait for Hermione to arrive. Draco filled Hermione in on the change of plans, and the pair altered their appearance before heading off to join Harry and Ron. When they arrived in the atrium, Harry and Ron paid them no attention until they approached them. They only reason Hermione knew she was approaching her friends, was that Ron wasn't in disguise.

"If we're ready, let's go," Harry said. "I'll go first and grab a seat. Ron you follow, and Draco and Hermione, you bring up the rear."

Everyone nodded and the plan was initiated. Harry headed off first, and after a few minutes Ron followed him. When Draco and Hermione arrived at the pub almost five minutes after Harry, everyone was in place. Ron was at the bar with a few of his friends and Harry had a table where he could watch Ron perfectly. Making it look as though they were here to meet Harry, Draco and Hermione grabbed some drinks and joined him at the table.

"Here's for another long evening," Draco muttered. Harry and Ron had offered to carry on without him, but he didn't want to leave them in the lurch. If by some chance the killer did turn up, he didn't want anything to go wrong because they didn't have appropriate back-up.

"Maybe not," Harry said quietly. "There's a witch over in the far corner. She's been watching Ron since he arrived."

"Is it our killer?" Draco asked. The corner Harry was talking about was behind him, and he didn't want to arouse the witch's suspicions by turning around to try and get a good look at her.

"I don't know," Harry replied frustratingly. "She's keeping to the shadows."

"She'll have to come out if she's going to approach Ron," Hermione said pragmatically. "We just wait."

Making sure they kept an eye on both Ron and the mystery witch, the trio sat chatting. They deliberately steered clear of topics such as the killer they were chasing and the funeral Draco and Hermione had attended earlier that day. Instead, Harry spoke about Ginny and the kids and Draco and Hermione confided in Harry about their growing relationship.

After about fifteen minutes, Harry sat up straighter. "She's on the move," He said, informing Hermione and Draco of the witch they couldn't see without turning around. "It's her," He confirmed as he got a good look at her.

"Is she approaching Ron?" Hermione asked. her heart was beating much faster than normal with the adrenaline that began to flow through her body and just to be sure they had everything covered she checked the bottle of antidote hidden safely in her pocket. Harry, Draco and Ron also had vials of the antidote just in case, but Hermione had the bulk of it.

"She is," Harry answered. "Give him a couple of minutes before Hermione goes over and stands at the other side of her."

"Remember to keep your glamours on," Draco hissed to his girlfriend. "It'll be easier if she doesn't know who you are."

Hermione nodded as she took a few deep breaths to calm herself. She wasn't used to undercover work, and she felt the pressure to make sure no-one was hurt. Especially since the people involved were her two best friends and her lover. When Harry gave her the signal, she casually asked if the boys wanted another drink before heading over to the bar. Arriving at the bar, Hermione stood beside the witch, who was too busy chatting Ron up to even notice her presence.

"So, what do you think?" The witch purred, fluttering her eyelashes at Ron and placing a hand on his arm. "Are you up for a bit if fun?"

"Always," Ron answered with a grin. "Let's finish these drinks and be off."

"Why bother with the drinks. We can order champagne when we get back to a hotel," The witch said.

"I suppose we can," Ron replied. "Champagne it is then."

Smiling happily the witch leant over and brushed her lips against Ron's cheek before moving up to his ear. "If you're a good boy I'll even let you cover me in champagne and lap it all up."

As Ron chuckled approvingly, Hermione noticed Harry and Draco leaving their seats. Dropping their glamours, the pair moved across the floor until they were a few meters away from Ron and the killer.

"Excuse me, can we have a word?" Harry asked.

The witch turned around at the sound of another voice, and paled as she came face to face with two Aurors. Despite her shock, she recovered surprisingly quickly and before anyone had a chance to react she'd picked up the red wine she'd been drinking and hurled it in Harry's face. Harry stumbled back as the wine got into his eyes, while Draco jumped to the side to dodge out of the way of the wine.

"Bastard," She spat at Ron, reaching out and clawing at his face before she turned and darted away.

Ron immediately brought his hand up to his face and felt the stickiness of blood. Jumping into action, Hermione pulled the antidote from her pocket and rushed over to Ron. Vaguely she was aware that Draco had taken off after the killer, and wiping his face, Harry had followed him. Hoping the pair would be successful, Hermione uncorked the antidote and made Ron swallow it.

"How do you feel?" Hermione asked.

"Queasy," Ron answered, swaying on his feet.

Hermione quickly grabbed a chair and settled her friend down in it. "The queasiness will pass. Just let me know if you start getting stomach cramps or start struggling for breath."

Ron nodded half-heartedly as he eyes darted around the room. "Did we get her?"

Hermione scanned the room and noticed a commotion over beside the door. Standing on her tiptoes, she spotted the witch on the floor with Draco while Harry cuffed her. When Harry yanked the witch to her feet and Draco remained on the floor, Hermione grabbed the antidote from Ron's pocket and rushed over to where he boyfriend lay.

"Draco," She cried, a sob building in her throat.

From the floor Draco let out a groan and lifted his head. Hermione instantly spotted blood running down his head and began to panic. Uncorking the antidote, she practically forced it down Draco's throat. Coughing and spluttering at having antidote poured down his throat, Draco sat up.

"She didn't get me," He choked out. "She was reaching for the door so I tackled her. I hit my head on the corner of the doorframe."

"It's better safe than sorry," Hermione said as she pulled Draco into a tight embrace. "I was so worried she'd scratched you."

"Speaking of scratches, is Ron okay?" Harry asked from nearby. He was still standing holding onto the witch, who looked like she was going to burst into tears at any time.

"I gave him the antidote, but I should really go and check on him," Hermione answered as she got to her feet.

"Go and sort Weasley, we'll meet you back at the Ministry," Draco said. "We've got a suspect to question."

"Wait," Hermione said. "Before you leave, I should declaw her. Just give me a minute."

Harry and Draco dragged the killer back over to the bar, where Ron was feeling much better and was organising for M.L.E officers to come and secure the scene.

"Ron, sit down," Hermione scolded, pushing the redhead back into his chair. "You should be resting. You were poisoned and very nearly killed."

"Luckily for me, you were there," Ron answered with a shaky smile. He still felt a bit queasy, but the dreaded breathing difficulties and stomach cramps had failed to materialise.

"I want to check you over when we get back to the Ministry," Hermione said as she grabbed her bag. Pulling out a pair of gloves, she slipped them on before turning to the killer. "Can you do something so she doesn't try and move?"

"Of course." Draco pulled out his own wand and immobilised the witch standing in Harry's custody.

Carefully Hermione stepped forward and took the witch's hand in hers. A quick examination revealed she was wearing false nails. With a relieved smile, Hermione summoned an evidence bag and with a wave of her wand the false nails were in the evidence bag. If the nails had been real, she had special nail polish remover, but false nails had made it so much easier.

"One declawed killer," Hermione announced, dropping the evidence bag into Draco's hand. "Just be careful in case she has more tricks up her sleeve. She may have poison somewhere else."

"We'll be careful," Harry promised as he released the witch from Draco's spell.

Leaving Hermione to make sure Ron was really okay and suffering no side effects, Draco and Harry took the witch off to the Ministry. Finally, the killer was in custody. Now all they needed to do was get to the bottom of who she was and why she was killing.


	23. Chapter 23

By the time Hermione and Ron got sorted at the bar, Harry and Draco were back at the Ministry putting the wheels in motion to question the mystery witch. After arriving back at the Ministry themselves, Hermione insisted on checking Ron over thoroughly. Once she was confident that the antidote had worked and he was suffering from no ill effects of being poisoned, she cleaned up his cheek and together they headed up to the Auror Department.

As they alighted from the lift, Ron spoke to an M.L.E officer, to find out where Harry and Draco were questioning their suspect. The Law Department had two separate set of interview room. Witnesses, victims, and other people not considered a suspect, were interviewed in one set of rooms, while suspects were interviewed in another set. The second set all adjoined to a second room, and a two-way mirror separated the room. Most of the time when there was an interview in progress, someone would be watching through the mirror.

As suspected, Harry and Draco had taken the witch to the rooms where they interviewed serious suspects. After finding out which room they were using, Ron led the way into the adjoining room. They'd fully expected to find Harry and Draco were interviewing the suspect, but instead they found the pair in the adjoining room with the Minister of Magic, Kingsley Shackelbolt.

"What's going on?" Ron asked. "Why aren't you interviewing her?"

"We've tried," Harry huffed. "She's not talking. When we originally brought her in, it looked as though she was going to break down and confess."

"She looked like she was going to cry back in the bar," Hermione noted. Glancing over at the mirror, she looked at the witch sitting in the next room and found she looked as composed an anything, she certainly didn't look as rattled as she had earlier.

"That's what we thought," Draco said. "She was on the verge of tears when we sat down to talk to her, but the second we asked her what she was called, she changed."

"Changed, how?" Ron asked.

"She got this furious look on her face, and then she went all deathly calm," Harry answered. "Since then, she hasn't responded to our questions. She merely looks at us."

"We decided to take a break while we run her wand through the system," Draco added. "We're hoping she might talk to us once we know her name."

"Let's hope so," Kingsley muttered. "Our case against her is strong, but the courts will want a motive. In fact, everyone wants a motive. Everyone will want to know what drove this woman to kill."

"I take it you want more than she's nuts," Harry muttered.

As the group stood watching the witch that had killed so many, and tried to kill so many others, Hermione decided to check on Draco's head. The blood running down his face had dried, but it didn't look as though he'd bothered to get the cut seen to. As she tended to him, Hermione felt guilty for not doing so back in the pub. Of course, she'd made sure he'd had the antidote just in case he'd been poisoned, but she hadn't fixed the cut on his head. Luckily it wasn't a major cut and it took her no time to heal it and clean away the dry blood.

Just as Hermione was finishing up with Draco, a M.L.E officer poked his head into the room and handed Harry the paperwork on the witch's wand. Harry looked at the paperwork, and the woman in the adjoining room, before shaking his head.

"This makes no sense," He muttered to himself.

"What?" Draco took the papers of Harry and looked at them, frowning when he read what his partner had just discovered. "You're right, this is wrong."

"Explain," Kingsley barked to the two Aurors.

"According to results, her wand belongs to Millicent Bullstrode," Harry explained.

"And?" Kingsley asked. He didn't get the significance, but judging by their shocked gasps and the way they'd turned to stare at the witch in custody, Hermione and Ron did.

"And that is not Millicent Bullstrode," Draco answered, his eyes never leaving the witch in the next room. "We went to school with Millicent, and that's not her. In fact she was in Slytherin with me."

"I'll re-run the results," Ron offered. "But we might have to face the fact that Millicent in dead. That woman could have killed her, and stolen her identity."

"You re-run the results, we'll go and talk to the mystery witch," Harry said.

Leaving Kingsley and Hermione to watch the interview, Harry, Draco and Ron exited the room. While Ron went off to do his thing, Harry and Draco entered the interview room. Upon entering the witch looked up, but she still didn't say anything.

"You're entitled to legal representation," Harry told the witch yet again. "All you have to do is say, and we'll call you a lawyer. Keeping quiet, doesn't help. Officially, it means you're turning down legal support."

Instead of answering, the witch merely looked down at her hands, studying where Hermione had removed her false nails. Exchanging a frustrated look, Harry and Draco shrugged and ploughed on with the interview.

"We've ran a check on your wand," Draco said, causing the witch to look up at him in curiosity. "It belongs to Millicent Bullstrode."

"Yes, it does," The witch replied quietly, speaking for the first time. She'd held her silence for long enough, now it was time for her story to come out.

"Why do you have Millicent's wand?" Harry asked. "Have you killed her?"

"Millicent died a long time ago," The witch said flatly.

"There's no record of Millicent dying," Draco said. "Did you kill her?"

"I tried," The witch laughed.

"How?" Harry questioned.

"I slit her wrists."

Harry and Draco glanced at each other out of the corner of their eyes. They both had an idea on what was happening, and they knew they were both on the same wavelength.

"But she survived," Draco said. "How?"

"Bad luck," The witch answered with a shrug.

"So if she survived the slit wrists, what happened to her?" Harry pressed.

"She was locked away," The witch spat. "She died in that horrid place they sent her to."

"And you were born," Harry concluded. "What's your name?"

"Millie," The witch answered. "Millicent was a fat blob no-one paid attention to. Millie gets attention."

"You've had a lot of work done," Draco mused. "I wouldn't recognise you for the girl I went to school with."

"I am not that girl," Millie exploded, banging her hands on the table. "Millicent is dead. And it was people like you two that killed her."

"How do we fit into this?" Harry asked gently. "Why are you targeting people we went to school with?"

"Because they're all responsible," Millie answered quietly. "They all contributed to killing Millicent, every last one of them."

"How are they responsible?" Draco asked.

"Millicent was so looking forward to going to Hogwarts," Millie said dreamily. "But it wasn't like she thought it would be. Right from the beginning, she was ignored, pushed aside. She tried to make friends, but no-one was interested. She tried to get a boyfriend when she was older, but no-one noticed her. Even the ugly ones like Crabbe and Goyle paid her no attention."

"That's just not true," Draco said. "You were part of our circle at school. You sat with us at mealtimes, you hung out with us in the common room, and you came down to Hogsmeade with us."

"Millicent was just there," Millie snapped. "She existed. She wasn't really included, she was an afterthought. No-one really made the effort with her."

"Again, that's not true," Draco said. "You were shy, but you were never excluded. We never ignored you. And as for making the effort, you and the girls all got ready for the Yule Ball together in fourth year. Daphne did your hair and make-up, she made the effort."

"She spent five minutes doing Millicent's hair and make-up," Millie sneered. "Then she turned her attention to that pug, Pansy Parkinson, getting her ready for you. Millicent was brushed off within minutes, and she sat in the corner watching the other girls."

"That's not our fault," Harry said. "No-one deserved to die because you felt overlooked."

"Millicent didn't just feel overlooked, she was overlooked," Millie retorted. "As if the Slytherins weren't bad enough, the rest of the school was worse. No-one outside of Slytherin would even talk to her, she had no friends, and no boys looked at her."

"I had no friends outside of Slytherin," Draco snorted. "No-one did. Slytherins didn't have friends outside of our house, it just wasn't done. You weren't an exception to that rule, you were just like everyone else. And like it or not, you had friends in school. We all classed you as a friend, even if you were shyer than the rest of us and didn't join in the same way. If anyone had asked me to name my friends from school, I can guarantee your name would have been on my list."

"Lies, lies, lies," Millie chorused in a sing-song voice. "You didn't even recognise me. Friends recognise each other, even after all these years. I recognised you. I also recognised Blaise and Daphne."

"Blaise and Daphne, is that what started all this?" Draco asked. "What happened, did Daphne fail to recognise you at her book signing?"

"Jumped up little slapper," Millie hissed. "She thinks she's so hot, just because she's with Blaise Zabini. She always was up herself, perfect little Daphne, always the one the boys wanted. Boys outside of Slytherin always noticed her."

"That's it, isn't it?" Draco chuckled humourlessly. "Daphne told me about the incident. How you said hello, and she couldn't place you. That was the turning point wasn't it. That was when you decided to get revenge on everyone who'd ever ignored you."

"I'm just sorry I didn't get more people," Millie remarked as she settled back in her seat and smirked at the two Aurors sitting opposite her. "I'm sorry everyone Millicent went to school isn't dead. The whole lot of you deserved it, it's just unfortunate I wasn't able to finish the job."

Harry exchanged nods with Draco, before he got to his feet. "Millicent Bullstrode, you're being charged with murder and remanded in custody. We'll continue this interview in the morning."

"Do what you want, I don't regret a thing," Millie replied with a shrug.

"You might change your mind once you're rotting away in Azkaban," Draco muttered as he joined Harry and the pair exited the room.

Heading into the adjoining room, they found Ron was back with Hermione and Kingsley. They didn't know how much of the interview Ron had heard, but he seemed to have heard enough to be up to speed with what was going on.

"I double checked the wand, and it's definitely Millicent's, but you already knew that," Ron said. "I've organised a warrant so we can search her place, and I'll pull up everything we've got on her. Before you next speak to her, we'll know everything there is to know about her."

"It sounds to me like she suffered a breakdown after school and attempted suicide," Hermione said quietly. Despite the evil Millicent had caused, she couldn't help but feel pity for the witch in the opposite room.

"It sounds like," Harry agreed. "We'll need the details to look into it further. It sounds like she was committed somewhere, and if that's the case I want to know why she was ever released. She clearly isn't stable, so why is she wandering around the place unchecked?"

"You'll find all you need to answer your questions," Kingsley said confidently. "But for now, I want to congratulate the four of you for a job well done. You've caught the killer, now you just need to wrap up all the loose ends. But that's a job for tomorrow, get Millicent down into the cells and go home for the night."

Following Kingsley's orders, Draco and Harry officially charged Millicent and settled her in the cells, while Ron made sure he requested all the files they would need in the coming days. The group then reassembled where they said their goodbyes, and headed home.

"Are you still coming back to mine?" Draco asked Hermione after Harry and Ron had headed home.

"Just you try and stop me," Hermione replied with a smile.

Draco chuckled as he gestured for Hermione to use the floo first. "I wouldn't dream of stopping you. In fact I was going to drag you back to mine if you were going to play hard to get."

"No dragging necessary," Hermione said. "I'm coming voluntarily."

Draco opened his mouth to make a saucy quip, but Hermione disappeared into the flames. Eager to get on with his evening, Draco followed Hermione back to his penthouse, feeling more relaxed than he had in several days. They still had questions to be answered, but at least now they didn't have to worry about finding more victims.


	24. Chapter 24

Draco woke up to find Hermione lying beside him, running her fingers over his chest. She looked in a world of her own, as her hands ran over his naked body. Letting his own hands wander over Hermione's body, he quickly caught her attention.

"Hey," Hermione smiled up at Draco.

"Hi," Draco returned. "I like waking up like this."

"So do I," Hermione said. Even though she didn't want things to progress too quickly with Draco, she had to admit that she loved spending the night with him. Waking up next to Draco definitely beat waking up alone.

"What do you say we make the most of waking up early," Draco suggested with a saucy grin.

"I like that plan," Hermione replied, pulling Draco into a heated embrace.

With no clothes to be removed it didn't take long for Draco and Hermione to become intimate. Their early morning lovemaking session lasted for a couple of hours, before they reluctantly rolled out of bed and headed for the shower. The couple would have loved nothing more than to have a bit of fun in the shower, but they had to get to work.

"Once all this is sorted with Millicent, we'll have to arrange that date we talked about," Draco remarked as the pair dressed.

"We will," Hermione said, smiling at the thought of going on a proper date with Draco.

"And we'll have to have dinner with my parents," Draco added. "Mother won't forget about wanting to meet you properly."

"I'll have dinner with your parents," Hermione reassured Draco. "But you do know you'll be expected to meet my friends in the same way. Ginny will want to have you over for dinner."

"I think I can cope with dinner with your friends," Draco said. "After all, I work with Potter and Weasley and we all get along just fine."

"Things might be even better if you start calling them by their first names," Hermione remarked. She'd noticed that Harry and Ron did the same with Draco, but she hoped that in time they would all learn to drop the surnames and use their given names.

"I'll think about it," Draco promised. He knew the longer his partnership with Harry lasted, the more comfortable he would feel at using his first name. "But right now, we should be going."

"I'm popping back home to grab a fresh outfit," Hermione said, giving Draco a quick kiss. "I'll see you at work later."

Hermione flooed to her flat, while Draco headed to the Ministry. Knowing Hermione would probably have things to do in her own department, Draco headed for the conference room. Ron was already present when he arrived, and Harry arrived as he was pouring himself some coffee.

"I have the warrant for Millicent's flat," Ron said. "I've also got a preliminary report on her background. I'm still not sure about her suicide attempt, but she does have history in the cosmetics field. She worked for a cosmetic firm for two years, I'll check if she has the know how to make everything we've seen in this case."

"Why didn't this show up on the earlier background checks?" Harry questioned.

"The job was over five years ago," Ron explained. "Since then she's had several jobs. We wouldn't have gotten to it eventually, but there was a lot of people to get through and Millicent wasn't a prime suspect."

"I also think we need to get a professional opinion on her state of mind," Harry suggested. "I still want to talk to her some more, but we need to be sure if she's fit enough to stand trial. Besides, a medical opinion might help us understand her motives some more."

"I'll contact St Mungo's and ask for a psychiatric healer to consult with Millicent," Ron said. "They might be able to help us with her past as well."

"I also thought we could talk to Millicent's parents," Draco said. "They could definitely shed some light on things."

"I agree," Harry said with a nod. "I say we start with her place while Ron is dealing with St Mungo's. We can then go and talk to her parents."

Leaving Ron to sort the psychiatric healer, Harry and Draco grabbed Millicent's address and headed off to arrange for Hermione to send them a forensic team. With support in place, the two Aurors headed off to the flat where Millicent lived.

Initially arriving at the flat, they found nothing untoward, but they pulled on their gloves and got searching. Her front room looked completely normal, it certainly didn't scream killer at them. The kitchen and dining room were also completely normal looking. The main bedroom also looked normal, but Harry stayed to check it out while Draco checked the other rooms.

It was when Draco entered the second bedroom that they finally found evidence that they were in the home of a killer. Set up on desks along the back wall were several cauldrons, and stacked up on shelves were body paint, massage oil, false nails and lipsticks.

"Harry," Draco called, deciding to try out using his partner's first name. "Get in here and see this."

A few seconds later, Harry entered the room, carrying two sheets of parchment in his hand. Taking a look around the room Draco was standing in, he let out a low whistle.

"This looks like the centre of her operation," He remarked.

"Did you find anything?" Draco asked.

"These." Harry handed the parchment over to Draco. The sheets were two lists, one containing all the men they'd went to school with, the other listing the women. A few names on both lists were scratched off, and Draco instantly placed them as being the victims of her killing spree.

"It doesn't look like she was prioritising her victims," Draco commented. Names were scratched out all over the page, instead of systematically working her way down a list.

"I think as long as she got everyone, she wasn't fussed over what order they died in," Harry said as Draco dropped the lists into evidence bags. "Hopefully we can ask her when we next talk to her."

Draco nodded, but his attention was on the room they were in. There was a lot of evidence to catalogue and take back to the Ministry. It was going to be a long job, and chances were they were going to be here all morning.

Sure enough, Draco and Harry were at Millicent's flat all morning. Along with all the samples from the cauldrons and the things she was adding the poison to, they found files of information in her desk drawer. The files each pertained to a wizard from their year, although apart from a measly biography the only information it contained was the bars and pubs the men frequented.

"Do you think she hired someone to do some research for her?" Harry asked as they logged the files in evidence. "I mean, if she was finding out this stuff herself she could have just struck as she looked into each person's life."

"If she hired someone, they either weren't very good, or she wasn't interested in being thorough," Draco remarked. "The biographies of each person are brief at the best. They basically contain their job, where they live and their marital status. Although even their marital status, just says if they're married or not, it doesn't take into consideration other relationships."

"Like Dean and Seamus," Harry mused, looking at the file he'd found for Dean. "Nowhere in here does it say he was gay. Seamus's was the same. So how did she know to send them paint?"

"Maybe she tried it on with one of them and got rejected," Draco suggested. "If they were in the bar together, she might have been able to piece it together herself."

Harry continued to puzzle over the question as they finished up in Millicent's flat. Satisfied they hadn't missed anything, and that they had more than enough evidence to prove Millicent was their killer, Harry and Draco headed back to the Ministry. When they arrived back in the conference room, they found Ron sorting through the first of the evidence that had been transferred from Millicent's flat.

"Thanks for all the stuff," Ron muttered. It was his job to sort the evidence, and check that they weren't missing anything that could prove vital to their case.

"She had a lot of evidence lying around," Draco remarked as he settled himself in a chair.

"So I see," Ron said. "It's going to take time to sort, but we'll be able to prove without a doubt that she's guilty."

"We might not need to depending on what the psychiatric healer has to say," Harry said. "Have you gotten one yet?"

"I have," Ron confirmed. "She arrived an hour ago. She's in with Millicent now. She should be finished in a few hours."

"In that case we should grab some lunch before going to visit Millicent's parents," Draco said to Harry as he stood back up. "Hopefully by the time we're back the psychiatric healer will be finished and Hermione will have tested the stuff we've found at Millicent's."

"Are you coming for lunch, Ron?" Harry asked.

Ron looked at the pile of evidence on the table, before agreeing and grabbing his jacket. He still had a few hours' worth of sorting to do, but he needed to eat. Together the three wizards headed to a nearby café that the Ministry staff favoured. Over lunch talk of their case was banned, so they stuck to more personal topics of conversation. Draco answered a few of Harry and Ron's questions about his relationship with Hermione, and found out more about both Harry and Ron's personal life.

Once lunch was over, Ron headed back to work while Harry and Draco got the address of Millicent's parents and headed to speak to them. The Bullstrodes lived in a large house in the countryside that screamed wealth. Like most purebloods they had a decent vault of gold in Gringotts, meaning their lifestyle was fairly luxurious. However, both their lifestyle and house couldn't rival the Malfoys. Draco had grown up far more pampered than Millicent had, the Malfoys had more money than the Bullstrodes and Malfoy Manor was over twice the size of their house.

"I still can't get over how flashy purebloods are," Harry muttered as they knocked on the front door. Even though his vault at Gringotts could rival most pureblood families, he wouldn't dream of living in a house this large. The house his family lived in was big enough for all of them, but it wasn't so big that it lost its homely atmosphere.

"Most of these houses were built centuries ago, and they're ancestral homes," Draco said. "My father would never dream of leaving the manor, despite its size. It's his family home, simple as that."

"And one day it will be yours," Harry said, wondering how Hermione would feel about living at the manor if her and Draco were still together.

"It will," Draco replied, just as the door swung open and they found themselves looking at a small house elf. Since the war all elves had been freed, but most pureblood families had retained a section of their elves and paid them the smallest amount they could get away with.

Harry and Draco requested to speak to Mr and Mrs Bullstrode, and the elf led them into a stuffy looking parlour. Draco recognised the room as a one unwanted guests were dealt with in. His father had a room very similar, which was where he dealt with unexpected callers. Only people he actually liked would be invited into the main living room.

After a five minute wait, an elderly couple shuffled into the room. Draco stepped forward and greeted the Bullstrodes, before introducing them to Harry. As a pureblood couple, the Bullstrodes were acquaintances of his family, but they weren't a couple Draco knew particularly well.

"What can we do for you?" Mr Bullstrode asked as everyone sat down on the two uncomfortable sofa that were in the room. "I'm not sure how we can help a couple of Aurors."

"It's about Millicent," Harry said.

"Oh Merlin!" Mrs Bullstrode gasped. "She's dead, isn't she?"

"Millicent is alive," Draco replied. "She's actually in custody. She's been arrested for murder. She's killed eight people."

"There has to have been a mistake," Mr Bullstrode insisted as his wife burst into tears beside him. "Our little girl wouldn't kill anyone."

"We have compelling evidence that she has," Harry said gently. "But that's not the only reason we're here. While we were talking to her, she kept insisting that Millicent was dead and she was called Millie. She also implied she attempted suicide. We're hoping you can help us fill in the details of what happened to her, it might help us understand why she's doing this."

"Your information is incorrect," Mr Bullstrode snarled. "Our daughter did not try and commit suicide, and she is not a killer. Now, I would like you to both leave this house and never return. I'll be sending my lawyer to ensure Millicent is released from your custody."

"Edwin stop it," Mrs Bullstrode hissed, drying her eyes. "Is it any wonder Millicent is in such a mess? We've been brushing this under the carpet for too long."

"Brushing what under the carpet, Mrs Bullstrode?" Draco asked kindly. "Please tell us what you know, it could help your daughter."

"About a year after leaving school, Millicent slashed her wrists," Mrs Bullstrode said quietly, the pain evident on her face despite the incident having happened years previously. "I found her in her room, we were just in time. After the healer had saved her life, we sent her to Forest Hills to recuperate."

"What's Forest Hills?" Harry asked.

"A place where people can recover from the trauma in their lives," Mrs Bullstrode replied. "Millicent was there eight months, and when she got out she was a shadow of her former self. Not only had she lost a lot of weight, but her personality had changed. Our lovable little girl was gone, and she'd been replaced by a woman intent of being noticed. She only stayed at home a few weeks, before she took off for America. When she returned, she'd had surgery to change her appearance and she insisted on being called Millie."

"Did Millicent display any anger towards the people she went to school with?" Harry asked.

"No," Mrs Bullstrode answered, shaking her head. "Once she came home from America, she seemed settled. She seemed happy with her life, even though she was cold towards us. We haven't seen a lot of her in recent years, but when we do see her, she's always got a story to tell about her life."

"So you see, our daughter cannot be a killer," Mr Bullstrode insisted. "She's got a good life, she's happy."

"I wish things were that simple Mr Bullstrode," Draco said sympathetically. "But we have proof that she's a killer. She's been looked at by a psychiatric healer as we speak. We'll know more once she's finished with Millicent."

"I'm contacting our lawyer," Mr Bullstrode insisted as he rose to his feet. "You're not to speak to her again without him being present."

"Send him to the Ministry, but it's Millicent's choice if she wants him with her," Harry said. "We'll urge her to accept legal counsel, but we can't force it upon her."

With a bit clearer picture of what had happened to Millicent, Harry and Draco left the Bullstrodes and returned to the Ministry. Now all they had to do was talk to the psychiatric healer and work out if Millicent was fit enough to be interviewed again. Even with everything they'd found out they still needed answers, and some of those answers could only be provided by Millicent herself.


	25. Chapter 25

Entering the conference room, Harry and Draco found Hermione sitting at the table flipping through some of the files they'd found at Millicent's flat. There was no sign of Ron, but Hermione explained that he was talking to the psychiatric healer. Taking off their jackets, Harry went to pour two cups of coffee, while Draco took a seat next to Hermione.

"Hey," Hermione smiled at Draco, before leaning over and giving him a brief kiss. "I was thinking I could cook for you tonight. You can come back to my flat, and we can have a nice romantic dinner together."

"That sounds great," Draco replied.

Handing Draco a cup of coffee, Harry took a seat opposite the couple. "So do you have anything interesting for us?" He asked Hermione.

"Not really," Hermione replied, handing Harry her preliminary results on what was found at Millicent's flat. "As expected, the poison was the same as what she's been using to kill her victims. It also looks as though she was making her own body paint, massage oil and lipstick. They all match up to the samples from our victims."

"Our case against her is looking pretty watertight," Draco remarked.

"Now we just need to find out what's going on with her mental health," Harry said.

"Maybe we can help there," Ron said as he entered the room with the psychiatric healer they'd been consulting with, Penelope Clearwater. "Everyone this is Penelope. Penelope, this is everyone. I'm sure you remember Harry and Hermione from school, and this is Draco Malfoy."

"It's nice to see you all again," Penelope said, shaking hands with the group.

"Can I get you a cup of coffee, Penelope?" Ron asked as he made his way over to the coffee machine.

"That would be lovely," She replied as she settled down in a chair. "White with one sugar, please."

Ron quickly made the coffees and slid into a seat next to Penelope. Harry and Hermione exchanged amused smiles at how attentive Ron was being to the older witch. If they didn't know any better they would swear he was flirting with his brother's former girlfriend.

"Thank you for consulting with us, Penelope," Harry said, focusing the conversation on the reason they were here.

"It's my pleasure," Penelope replied. "Ron tells me you've spoken to Millicent's parents today. If we start there, I can then tell you about my observations."

Harry nodded as he explained about how Millicent had slashed her wrists shortly after leaving school. "Her parents sent her to some place called, Forest Hills. They said it was somewhere people went to deal with trauma, so we're guessing it's a private institution. We haven't had a chance to get more details on it just yet."

"I can tell you enough about Forest Hills to tell you that Millicent won't have received the help she so desperately needed," Penelope said. "Forest Hills is where rich families send problematic members of their family. Some go for drinking too much, some for suicide attempts like Millicent. I've even heard rumours that some people have been sent there because they got involved with an undesirable witch or wizard. The place does have councillors, but they're not qualified to deal with real mental illness."

"Why hasn't the place been shut down?" Hermione asked. As a medical professional she knew that hospitals and medical practices operated under strict guidelines, and could be closed if not run properly.

"Because they don't claim to be anything that they're not," Penelope replied. "Forest Hills claims to be a retreat where people can go and re-focus their lives. They don't claim to be a psychiatric facility, people just use it as such."

"Meaning it would have been easy for Millicent to convince them she was well enough to leave," Draco muttered.

"All she would have had to convince them was that she wasn't going to try and commit suicide again," Penelope said. "And I'm fairly confident that at the time she left Forest Hills she was no longer suicidal."

"No, just homicidal," Harry said.

"What happened after she left Forest Hills?" Ron asked. "When did she morph into Millie, and start believing that Millicent was dead?"

"Her mother said that not long after she left Forest Hills she took off to America, and when she returned she'd had surgery and was calling herself Millie," Draco said. "According to Mrs Bullstrode, it was as though she'd also had a personality transplant. Millie is nothing like Millicent."

"That's because she's an entirely different person," Penelope said. "After spending all morning with Millicent, I would class her as having a borderline Multiple Personality Disorder. Without treatment, she will snap and quite possibly develop even more personalities. Millie was born when she could no longer deal with being Millicent. After years of being overlooked and side-lined, she couldn't take it anymore and tried to kill herself. When that failed, and she didn't die, her mind splintered. She locked Millicent away, and became Millie. Someone who wouldn't be overlooked."

"But she wasn't overlooked," Draco protested. "She had friends in school, even if she doesn't want to admit it. She was a part of our group, we didn't ignore her like she claims."

"I'm sure you didn't, Draco," Penelope said reassuringly. "But in her mind she never fit in. Even though she was never excluded, it felt like that to her. Her suicide attempt should have been taken as a call for help, and if she'd been properly treated at the time all this could have been avoided. What she needed was some therapy, for someone to try and get to the bottom of why she'd tried to kill herself. Instead she was shut away, and left to deal with everything on her own."

"Which was when her mind snapped and she created Millie," Hermione said, nodding in understanding. The more they were talking, the more she felt sorry for Millicent. She just wished that Millicent could have gotten the help she needed before she'd killed several people.

"Exactly," Penelope replied. "When she left Forest Hills, her mind was already embracing her new identity as Millie, she just needed the body to match."

"I checked into things and found she used a substantial chunk of her inheritance to change her appearance," Ron said. "She'd already lost a bit of weight when she recovering from her suicide attempt, and she had surgery to lose the rest and give her a toned physique. Her breasts were magically enhanced, and she had a nose job and a few other minor magical procedures on her face. Once she had her new body, she cut and dyed her hair and got herself a whole new wardrobe."

"Her mother said when she got back from America she was a changed person, but she was also happy," Harry said.

"Although she did say, Millicent was cold towards her parents," Draco added. "They saw each other, but they weren't close."

"That makes sense," Penelope said. "Millicent is deeply resentful towards her parents. She hates them for locking her away after her suicide attempt. But as Millie, she dealt with them by pretty much ignoring them. She was determined to be happy."

"What went wrong?" Hermione asked.

"In some ways she'd managed to create a new confident persona, but in other ways she was still struggling with her identity," Penelope answered. "Her career is a perfect example of that. She's flicked from job to job, never staying in one profession for more than a couple of years. My guess is when you look into her life more closely, you'll find her relationships have the same pattern. She's trying to find herself, and she's so messed up she doesn't know who that is anymore."

"How does seeing Daphne fit into all this?" Harry questioned. "That seemed to be the trigger to her killing spree, but if she thought Millicent was dead, why did it bother her that Daphne failed to recognise her?"

"Because it brought back painful memories she never dealt with," Penelope explained. "All of a sudden, Millie was being overlooked just like Millicent had been. In order to stop history repeating itself, she decided to take out the problem."

"By killing everyone, who in her mind had ignored her and started everything in the first place," Draco concluded.

Penelope nodded. "Indeed. She admits to all the killings and attempted murder. But she's failed to comprehend she's done anything wrong. She's willing to tell you anything you want to know."

"But will we be able to charge her with murder and attempted murder?" Harry asked.

"She had enough clarity to be aware of her actions," Penelope answered. "I would say you could charge her, but I would recommend psychiatric care. You could send her to Azkaban for life, but I do think she should have a chance to get better. With time she might be able to accept what she's done is wrong, and that will only happen if she has treatment."

"Before we discuss what will happen in the future, I think we should talk to Millicent," Harry suggested.

"As I said, she'll tell you whatever you want to know," Penelope said as she stood up. "I'll write up a report of Millicent, and send it to you. If it all possible, I would like to continue treating her."

"We'll see what we can do," Harry said to Penelope.

"I'll walk you down to the atrium," Ron volunteered, getting to his feet.

Hermione and Harry shared another amused look as Ron headed down to the atrium with Penelope.

"I better be getting back," Hermione announced as she also stood up. "I'll see you tonight," She said to Draco, giving him another quick kiss before she left the conference room.

"Things seem to be going well for you and Hermione," Harry commented.

"They are," Draco replied as they got to their feet. "I think there's a good chance we can have a future together."

"I'm pleased for you both," Harry said. "I think you make a good couple."

"Thanks," Draco smiled. "But I guess we better go and chat to our killer."

"There's a lawyer in one of the interview rooms," Ron called as he re-entered the conference room. "He says he's representing Millicent."

"Mr Bullstrode sent him," Harry explained. "We need to see if Millicent will agree to have him present at her interview."

"I'll go and do that," Ron offered.

Fifteen minutes later, Harry and Draco settled down to Interview Millicent, with Ron watching in the adjoining room. Millicent had agreed to have her lawyer present, and the pair had spoken for several minutes before Harry and Draco entered the room. Both Harry and Draco could see that the talk hadn't gone as the lawyer wanted, as he was scowling at them as they took their seats.

"Let the records show that I'm against this," The lawyer muttered. "Miss Bullstrode is going against legal advice by talking to you."

"Talking to us will only help her case," Draco corrected. "Keeping silent won't help. She needs to answer our questions."

"I'm willing to answer your questions," Millie said quietly.

"Thank you," Harry said, offering the witch a small smile. "To begin with, how did you get the information on students from our year?"

"I hired a private investigator," Millie replied. "He got me the addresses of everyone in our year. He gave me brief information on all the men, including where they hung out on an evening. It was easy to pick a few bars, and find a target."

"Did you brew the poison yourself?" Draco asked. "And what about adding it to everything else, did you do that?"

"I did everything," Millie said with a smirk. "I made the poison, the lipsticks, the body paint and the massage oil. I dosed everything, and came up with all the plans myself."

"Why did you sleep with your male victims?" Harry asked. "Why not just send them trinkets, like you did the women?"

"I slept with them because I could," Millie smirked. "They wouldn't look twice at Millicent, but they jumped into my bed without hesitation."

"What about Dean and Seamus?" Harry asked. "How did you know how to send them body paint? There was nothing in their files to inform you that they were gay."

"I ran into Dean at a pub," Millie explained. "He turned me down, then I saw him with Seamus. It was so obvious they were a couple. I knew my normal method wouldn't work, so I sent them a few free samples."

"Just like you did with us two," Draco said, gesturing to himself and Harry.

"I read the pair of you were investigating, and knew you'd be on your guard," Millie said. "I sent you the body paint as I didn't think I could get to you any other way."

"Just sending free samples isn't a great way of killing someone," Harry pointed out. "You can't be sure they're even going to use them. We've got all of the lipsticks, bar three. And then there's what happened with Astoria. She used the lipstick instead of her sister. Doesn't that bother you, you've killed an innocent woman."

"Astoria wasn't innocent," Millie laughed bitterly. "She was a cow just like her sister. It was unfortunate she died, but it's not the end of the world."

"What did you hope to achieve?" Draco questioned. "What on earth is killing people you went to school with, achieving?"

"At least now they'll remember poor Millicent," Millie replied.

Draco shook his head sadly as he stood up. "I always remembered her. I remembered her as a shy, but kind girl. Now, I'm just going to remember her as a sadistic killer that murdered two of my best friends."

Leaving Millicent to come to terms with what she'd done, Harry and Draco exited the room. Now they had to put their case together and see if Millicent would be prosecuted. They'd done their jobs and caught the killer, all that was left was to see what punishment she received.


	26. Epilogue

**Six Weeks Later.**

The courtroom in the Ministry was packed as Millicent's trial came to an end. For the past fortnight, the case against her had been put forward, and every day the courtroom was packed. As well as the families of her victims, the press were present to report on the trial. At the beginning of the trial, Millicent had pleaded guilty, meaning no defence was mounted and the trial basically consisted of the Ministry presenting their case against her. However, the Ministry had presented all the information available to them, and Penelope had testified in Millicent's defence.

"This has been a difficult few months for everyone involved in this case," Kingsley said, beginning his summing up of the case. As head of the Wizengamot, he'd been presiding over the trial and it was time for him to announce the verdict and sentence. "Miss Bullstrode has pleaded guilty, and the Wizengamot accepts her plea. We are confident she committed these murders, and was fully aware of her actions. However, there is no denying that she is suffering from acute mental health issues. It would be remiss of us to ignore her mental health issues. Therefore we're sentencing Miss Bullstrode to life imprisonment, beginning with interment in the St Mungo's psychiatric hospital. If there comes a time when Miss Bullstrode is fit to be released from the psychiatric hospital, she will be transferred to Azkaban."

The St Mungo's psychiatric hospital was a new addition to the building, and had a secure section for the more vulnerable patients. Millicent would be housed in the secure section, and apart from when she was receiving treatment she would be confined to a basic room. Her hospital stay would be every bit as much of a punishment as being sent straight to prison. The only difference was, she would get a chance to sort out her mental problems and hopefully regain some of her sense of right and wrong. Even though she'd pleaded guilty, she still didn't regret her actions and still maintained that if given the chance, she would do exactly the same thing again.

Even though Kingsley's verdict had been what everyone was expecting, the courtroom was still filled with quiet chattering as the trial came to a close. The reporters were deciding how best to report the story, while the family of her victims were trying to accept the verdict. Before the trial started Harry and Draco had personally spoken to everyone who'd lost a loved one and explained the situation. They'd made sure everyone knew that the most likely outcome was Millicent ending up in the psychiatric unit. Although Kingsley had made things easier by announcing she would be transferring to Azkaban if she was ever released from hospital. It was definitely a comfort to the families of her victims, knowing she would never again be a free woman.

Once Millicent had been escorted out of the courtroom, everyone else was free to leave. Hermione, Draco, Harry and Ron had all arrived at court together and they left the gloomy courtroom alongside Draco's friends, Theo, Blaise and Daphne.

"Well it's over," Theo sighed as they reached the atrium.

"I know it's not easy, but justice was served," Draco said to his friend, giving him a reassuring pat on the back. "Millicent will spend the rest of her life locked up."

"I still can't believe that was the same girl we went to school with," Daphne said sadly. "Millicent was so shy and sweet, but she's nothing like that now. She's a monster."

Even though no-one quite agreed with Daphne, they didn't bother arguing with her. Since finding out that Millicent's murderous rampage was fuelled by her not recognising her at the book singing, Daphne had been eaten up with guilt. Combined with the fact that Astoria had used the lipstick meant for her had almost pushed her over the edge, but luckily Blaise and her friends had been there for her. They'd continually told her that none of this was all her fault, and finally she was starting to believe them. Six weeks after Millicent's capture, she was beginning to see that she wasn't responsible for the actions of other people.

"I was thinking we could all do something this weekend," Blaise suggested, trying to lighten the mood. With Draco and Hermione's romance going great guns, their friends had gotten to know one another and they often did things together.

"Like what?" Theo asked. He was still grieving for Pansy and didn't join in with the group as much as the others, but he was slowly joining them more often.

"I don't know," Blaise admitted with a shrug. "How about you all come round for dinner tomorrow night."

"Ginny and I will be there providing Molly can watch the kids," Harry said.

"I'll be there," Ron said.

"Count me in," Theo said. He was more comfortable just going round to Blaise and Daphne's house, so he was more than happy to say yes to the invitation now he knew they weren't planning on going out.

"Draco, Hermione?" Blaise asked, turning to the couple.

"We were planning on spending the weekend naked, but I suppose we can put on clothes for a few hours," Draco replied.

"Don't let us put you out," Blaise laughed. "If it's easier we can have a naked dinner party."

"I don't think so," Daphne scolded. "I'm not showing off my assets to my friends."

"Yeah, naked dining doesn't sound like much fun," Theo added. "Imagine if you dribbled gravy in your lap. Ouch!"

"We're perfectly happy to put on clothes," Hermione reassured the group as they chuckled at Theo. "We'll be there for dinner."

After making arrangements for the following evening, the group went their separate ways. Theo, Blaise and Daphne exited the Ministry, while Harry, Draco and Hermione all headed off to their offices. With the trial, they'd all been juggling work with being down in the courtroom, but they needed to make sure everything was in order before leaving for the weekend.

"I'll meet you in the atrium at five," Hermione said to Draco as the lift stopped on her floor. "Don't be late."

"I wouldn't dream of it," Draco answered as his girlfriend alighted the lift and the doors snapped shut behind her.

"You're so whipped," Ron laughed as the trio continued on up to the next floor. "Hermione has you just where she wants you."

"And what makes you think it's not where I want to be?" Draco asked good-naturedly as they stepped out of the lift.

"You certainly seem happy," Harry remarked. "Even if Hermione is the boss."

"Have you two learnt nothing from watching me," Draco tutted. "I'm the boss, I just let Hermione think she's in control."

"Please, we all know Hermione is the boss," Ron snorted. "She's always the boss. She ran rings around us two in school, and she's doing the same to you now. Hermione is always in charge."

"You'd be surprised how much control she's willing to give up," Draco remarked with a wicked grin.

"We don't need allusions to your sex life," Harry said, holding his hand up in protest so Draco didn't share too much.

"Why not, it's a good sex life," Draco chuckled.

"I'm sure it is, but she's still our best friend," Ron replied. "We have no desire to hear what you and Hermione get up to in the bedroom. At least not in too much detail."

"But yet it's okay for you to regale us with tales of your sex life?" Draco queried. The friendship between him, Harry and Ron was growing steadily and they happily indulged in the sort of banter he shared with Blaise and Theo.

"Of course," Ron replied in mock seriousness. "I'm not sleeping with one of your best friends. Or your sister," He added, looking at Harry.

"Hey, I don't share that much," Harry protested. Inevitably he spoke about Ginny when they were chatting, but he was always very careful not to say too much in front of Ron.

"When it's your little sister, a tiny bit is too much," Ron retorted. "Especially since you've been trying for another baby. I don't need to know how my future niece or nephew was conceived."

With the banter flowing back and forth the trio spent the rest of the afternoon finishing off their work, before they went their separate ways. Harry was eager to get home so they could contact Molly and see if she could have the kids the following evening, Ron was rushing off to get ready for a date, while Draco was meeting Hermione so they could spend a quiet weekend together.

"Are you ready?" He asked, approaching his girlfriend as she waited for him in the atrium.

"I am," Hermione replied. "I'm looking forward to spending the entire weekend with you."

"Although we will now have to spend tomorrow night with our friends," Draco pointed out as they headed for the fireplaces.

"You're just annoyed because we'll have to put our clothes back on," Hermione laughed.

"We did agree to spend the entire weekend naked," Draco pointed out.

"We can do that any weekend," Hermione replied as she grabbed some floo powder.

Draco let Hermione floo to his penthouse first, before he followed her through the fire. When he emerged from the fire in the front room, he found Hermione had already discarded her jacket and bag and was stepping out of her heels. Even though they didn't live together, and were trying to take things at a reasonable pace, they still spent almost every night together.

"I'm glad today is over with," Hermione declared as she sank down onto the sofa.

"I think everyone is," Draco said, joining Hermione on the sofa. "Finally we can move on and put this nightmare behind us."

"I like the sound of that," Hermione said, snuggling into Draco who wrapped his arm around her.

"Me too," Draco agreed, dropping a kiss to the top of Hermione's head.

The couple sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes before Hermione looked up at Draco and gave him a seductive grin.

"Weren't we supposed to be spending the weekend without clothes?"

Draco grinned back at his girlfriend. "Yes, we were. If you stand up we can make that happen."

Getting off the sofa, Hermione watched in amusement as Draco quickly shed his clothes. Once he was completely naked, he pulled Hermione closer to him and began to slowly undress her. Hermione closed her eyes and revelled in Draco's touch as his hands caressed every inch of flesh he exposed.

"I love you when you're naked," Draco remarked as he pulled Hermione onto his lap. Hermione's eyes locked with his as he spoke, and suddenly the atmosphere took on an intense feeling. Reaching up, Draco tenderly brushed his finger down Hermione's face "I love you, Hermione," He whispered, saying the words for the first time in their relationship.

"I love you too," Hermione replied, equally as quiet.

Smiling at each, Draco and Hermione took a moment to revel in the new step they'd just taken together. They'd both been aware that the 'L' word was coming, but it didn't prepare them for actually saying and hearing it. Having it said out loud to one another, confirmed how serious they were about one another and what hopes they had of a long term relationship.

"I love you," Draco repeated as he pulled Hermione's head down to his and their lips met softly.

The tender kiss soon gave way to passion as their naked bodies reacted to one another. Within a few minutes they were expressing their love in a different way as their bodies expertly moved together as they made love on the sofa.

 **The End.**

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 **A/N – I want to say a big thank you for everyone who has taken the time to read this story and especially to those who've left feedback. I'm pleased the story captivated people's attention, and I hope this small epilogue ended things off nicely. Thanks again for reading, not only this story but my other stories as well. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all my amazing readers – I really couldn't do this without all the amazing support I receive from the wonderful people on this site.**


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